


The Lotus Effect

by PandorasBox (AdriannaRhode)



Category: NCT (Band), SuperM (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, Bionic Humans, Body Horror, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Sexual Content, Flower Symbolism, Found Family, Horror, Kidnapping, Kim Jongin | Kai & Lee Taemin are Best Friends, Korean Chaebol System, M/M, Medical Experimentation, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Miscommunication, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Science Fiction, Sharing a Bed, Sibling Love, Slow Burn, Student Jaehyun, everything i know about robots is in here, if there's no found family what is the god damn fucking point?, lee taemin as a sexy evil genius, probably a LOT of mistakes in terminology, robotics engineer johnny, superhumans, why do i always torture my biases like this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:27:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 74,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23586868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdriannaRhode/pseuds/PandorasBox
Summary: A lotus can recover. A lotus isn't stopped or slowed down by anything. Rain rolls right off its petals. A flower that grows in muddy water, transforming filth into something beautiful.I want you to be like that too, Johnny. Perfect. Like the rest of them.(SM Entertainment Android AU)
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Lee Taemin, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Lee Taeyong/Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten, Past Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny - Relationship, Past Mark Lee/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 102
Kudos: 148





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. Uh. So my tags didn't scare you off jhdghds WELCOME. 
> 
> This plot came to me in a fucking nightmare. I had a nightmare about Johnny and Jaehyun running from something I couldn't see, and then I fell down a hole of bionics, androids, and robot morals. 
> 
> Not edited, not beta'd, I am in quarantine indefinitely and this is the only thing keeping me going rn.
> 
> Please enjoy!

Every night, it’s the same dream.

Johnny is walking alone down a metal hallway lined with reinforced doors. It’s too clean, like the surgery ward of a hospital. Like his very being there is a disturbance. There are windows, but they’re all mirrored, so he can only see his own figure moving along the diamond tread plating. He can hear buzzing, metal clanking, the steady hum of welding and circuits and all the other tiny sounds he associates with being in the lab. With work. With progress. With contentedness.

This is anything but that.

It looks like his old workplace. It sounds like it, too. But it’s darker, somehow, more sinister. Everything is off, leaning a bit to the left or just barely the wrong color. Like a police sketch or a mirrored photograph, uncannily similar but still not quite the same as the real thing.

Johnny walks, alone, until he hears the screaming.

It’s only one word every time. The same word.

_“JOHNNY!”_

Every night, without fail, Johnny starts running.

He passes the doors, his own distorted reflection mocking him as he follows the scream. It’s a primal, animal scream. The scream of someone being hurt, being tortured, being – Johnny never wants to think farther than that.

_“JOHNNY!”_

Every night, he gets a little farther into the building, deeper into the dark uncanny shadows of it all. He passes a few more doors before he wakes himself up, screaming back, not in his dream but in real life, in his bed, screaming so loud that his throat is sore.

“MARK!”

It’s not always Mark, though.

Sometimes it’s Taeyong, his rough voice that Johnny’s known all through adolescence and beyond piercing as he screams Johnny’s name.

Sometimes it’s Ten’s high, lovely voice, broken with sobs.

Usually it’s Mark, though. Mark’s accent, Mark’s perfect English pronunciation, as he begs and calls for Johnny and gets no answer.

No answer.

Johnny wakes up screaming.

As his chest heaves and he comes back to the world, cold and clammy in his sweat-soaked pajamas, he can see the hall light flicker on. Quiet footsteps, slipper-clad feet on the thin wooden floors, and there’s a figure at his door.

“Hyungie?”

Jaehyun, Johnny’s roommate, must be the most patient person in the world. Even though Jaehyun is woken up almost every night like this, he never gets angry. He never asks any difficult questions. He doesn’t even know what Johnny’s dreams are about. He just stands there the way he’s doing now, sleep-mussed with big worried eyes, while Johnny slips out of bed onto shaky legs.

“’M fine.”

“Hyungie,” Jaehyun says again.

Johnny peels off his nasty damp shirt, too adrenaline-shocked to even care about being in just his boxers in front of Jaehyun, and yanks his drawer open for a clean one. “I swear, I’m fine. It’s – I’m-”

“You don’t sound fine,” Jaehyun says softly.

“Well, I am.”

“You keep having nightmares.

Johnny tugs a t-shirt out of his drawer. “It’s getting better.”

“This is the fourth time this week, hyung. It’s not getting better, it’s happening more.”

Jaehyun approaches him with the kind of tentativeness that would be appropriate to show a wild deer, or a wounded bird. He gently takes the shirt out of Johnny’s quivering hands, and lays it down on top of Johnny’s dresser.

“You should go take a shower,” Jaehyun says. “It’ll make you feel better. Go shower. I’ll make some tea or something, we can watch TV. Okay?”

“Jae, it’s the middle of the night. You have class tomorrow, I can’t-”

“Shower, snack, TV,” Jaehyun says, more firmly.

He reaches out and swipes his thumb across Johnny’s cheek, the gesture just on the edge of too familiar, and Johnny is embarrassed when it comes back damp with tears.

Jaehyun is right. Jaehyun is always right.

Johnny goes to take a shower.

\---------------

When he comes out of the shower, Jaehyun is waiting as promised with two mugs of steaming ginger and honey tea, and the Netflix main menu queued on their living room television.

Jaehyun is a good roommate. Johnny doesn’t deserve him.

Clean and warm and decidedly calmer, Johnny settles onto their beat-up couch beside Jaehyun. He accepts the tea with a sheepish smile.

“I’m sorry.”

Jaehyun just shrugs. “I know I’m not a beverage master like Mark, but I hope the tea’s okay.”

Any other time of the day, that joke is fair game. Johnny moans often enough about his annoying younger ex-roommate, and the way he took off for Canada all of a sudden, leaving Johnny in a lurch without a new roomie. How Mark was like a little brother to Johnny, and how much it hurt to come home and find him gone with nothing but a voicemail and few apologetic texts to explain that he had been called back to Vancouver with a family emergency.

But at night, in the dark of their too-silent apartment, after Johnny’s had The Nightmare, it’s almost sinister.

Jaehyun is here, safe and cozy in their warm apartment, and just moments ago in a dream, Johnny was chasing the phantom of Mark’s voice down a cold sterile hallway.

Jaehyun is here, and Mark isn’t.

“Yeah,” Johnny says, finally, “It’s good.”

He sips the tea as if to prove it.

“You should really consider getting some counseling about these dreams,” Jaehyun says, blunt as ever.

“I dunno,” Johnny says over the rim of his cup, “They’re just dreams.”

Lies. They’re terrors.

“They make you really upset,” Jaehyun says.

“They do,” Johnny agrees.

“You wake up so scared, Johnny. That’s not okay.”

“No it’s not.”

Jaehyun puts his mug down, a wry expression on his face. “I get the feeling there’s a ‘but’ coming.”

“But,” Johnny says, “But I want to see how it ends.”

“The dream?”

“I never get to the end.”

“If it’s scary, why would you wanna see more?” Jaehyun asks the room at large.

Johnny looks into his tea, the swirling gold of it. “I get so close and then I just wake up. I have to see what’s at the end.”

Jaehyun just sits, contemplating, while Johnny drains the rest of his drink.

“Would it help if we spooned?” Jaehyun asks, his expression deadly serious.

Johnny sputters, “Would – _what?_ ”

“You know. Spoon. Maybe you’d have less nightmares if you were the little spoon,” Jaehyun teases.

“Shut up,” Johnny shoves him, grinning in spite of himself. “You suck. Put on cartoons.”

“Yes, captain.”

Jaehyun clicks onto some old American cartoon, and the bright colors and droning bubbly music fill their living room with just enough stimulation to distract Johnny out of his post-nightmare haze.

Jaehyun is too good. Johnny doesn’t deserve him.

They watch cartoons in relative silence for longer than Johnny cares to count. When Jaehyun falls asleep on the couch, Johnny decides to sleep there too, out of solidarity. That’s why he wakes up to the blazing sunlight pouring into their apartment through the blinds. They always forget to close the blinds.

Johnny’s neck is craned precariously backwards, so he’s stiff when he sits back up properly. He stretches, wincing, and squints over at his roommate. Jaehyun’s managed to curl up perfectly normally across the cushions. He’s surprisingly compact for someone so tall.

There were no more nightmares, though. Johnny slept through the rest of the night.

\---------------

Jaehyun brings dinner home that night.

Usually Johnny cooks, since he doesn't work and doesn't go to school and genuinely doesn't do much of anything, compared to Jaehyun. Full time student, full time athlete, part time worker Jaehyun. A productive and generally valuable member of society. But that afternoon Jaehyun had messaged telling Johnny that he would pick up something for dinner, not to worry.

So Johnny just waits and plays video games in the living room until Jaehyun comes home from swimming practice with plastic bags stuffed full of takeout.

"Hey," Jaehyun calls, over the rustling as he settles the bags on the kitchen counter.

Johnny pauses his game, and heads for the kitchen. "Hey."

"Hope tteokbokki and chicken is okay, cuz those are the only things near the gym," Jaehyun says, unpacking what seems like too many little vacuum-packed tteokbokki dishes for only two people.

"Anything that I don't have to cook is good," Johnny replies.

"Good."

So they sort out the food, gather some bowls and utensils and napkins, and settle a tray loaded with their shared dinner on the coffee table. They lounge together, just like the way they'd woken up that morning, and as Johnny twirls the long, stringy cheese topping of his tteokbokki around his chopsticks, Jaehyun speaks.

"Hyungie, did I cross the line last night?"

"With what?" Johnny asks, still fighting with the cheese.

"When I mentioned Mark."

Johnny looks up at Jaehyun. "When you..."

"You seemed really uncomfortable when I made that joke about Mark," Jaehyun says, sincerely. "I won't joke if it makes you upset, hyung, I just...you do it a lot, so I thought it would break the mood."

"I was just upset in general," Johnny says, fighting his embarrassment. “It wasn’t about you. You’re fine, Jae, I promise.”

Jaehyun tilts his head, regarding Johnny with something like fondness. "I worry about you."

"Why?"

"Because you're so stressed. And you have nightmares."

"I'm the hyung, I'm supposed to worry about you," Johnny quips.

“I can worry back. I’m your friend.”

Johnny pops the tteok into his mouth.

"I know I haven't know you that long," Jaehyun fidgets, "And maybe it's overstepping. But really. I worry."

Johnny sighs. "I guess...I just miss the kid."

"Mark."

"Mark," Johnny agrees. "He was like...the last friend I had left, you know?"

"I don't," Jaehyun says mildly, putting another bite of chicken into his mouth and speaking around it. "But 'ou can tell me if 'ou want."

Johnny doesn't know if talking about it will help. He likes Jaehyun a lot, but the kid has only lived with him for maybe three months, now. They're close in the way that good roommates can get, but sharing his sob story feels like oversharing. But Jaehyun's looking at him expectantly, with big clear brown eyes, just eating his chicken and waiting.

Talking...talking about it can't hurt, can it?

"You moved in...in May?" Johnny recounts slowly.

Jaehyun nods.

"I left my job in March."

"Why'd you leave?"

Johnny knew he'd ask. "Everything...just got really strange, all at once."

Jaehyun just nods, silent.

"I worked in a robotics lab. We made prostheses, I think I've told you a little," Johnny says, and Jaehyun nods again.

"Yeah. You made robotic arms and legs and stuff, right?"

Johnny puts his chopsticks down. "Yeah. Prosthetic limbs.”

“That’s a cool job,” Jaehyun comments. “Helping people, y’know?”

“It was cool at first. Until maybe…February? Ish? Cuz like...all of a sudden they started putting all this weird pressure on me."

"Weird how?"

"The directors wanted me to invent stuff. Usually, my job was to tweak tech that already existed. Make circuits work faster, or make the prosthetic joints more accurate to human joints. Stuff like that. But they wanted me to invent things. Whole systems. It’s kind of a lot."

Jaehyun doesn't look confused, so Johnny charges on.

"They asked me to start work on a replicated nerve system. Like, to make electronic nerves that work just like human nerves. So that if someone got nerve damage, you could just install new ones.”

Jaehyun nods, very slowly. “Like people with burns, right?”

“Right. Yeah. If nerves get damaged, it’s almost impossible to fix in regular surgery. Nerve damage is a side effect to a lot of surgeries, even. So, that, that's...I had no idea how to even start. But I started."

"I thought nerves were one of those things we just can’t make," Jaehyun says.

"I thought so too," Johnny agrees, "Until I did it."

“You…” 

Johnny nods. “Yeah.”

"Shit."

"It would have been years and years before they could even _try_ using them on a patient, but the foundation was there.”

“You just said it was impossible,” Jaehyun says.

Johnny looks somber. “I thought it was. But I got digital receptors to bond with damaged nerve tissue. Worked like new.”

“Dude, you’re like…an actual genius.”

“Nah. I just know how circuits work. But it wasn't enough for the company."

"You were playing God and that wasn't enough?" Jaehyun asks.

"They asked me to make more and more stuff. Which, maybe I could have. But they also kept cutting down my team," Johnny runs a hand through his hair anxiously, "All my best team members, all the smartest guys I knew. Doyoung-ah. Kun-ah. Yuta-yah. They were all transferred away. To different companies, sometimes."

"That's terrible," says Jaehyun.

"We weren't... _close_ , I guess, but we were friends. Work friends, at least. I missed them, on top of needing them to work with me."

"Well, no wonder you're stressed, John, that's horrible."

Johnny laughs humorlessly. "Oh, it gets worse."

Jaehyun takes another bite of his dinner, nodding at Johnny to continue.

"My best friend Taeyong...I've known him since I was a teenager. He was my only Korean friend when I was still splitting time between my parents in Chicago and my grandparents here," Johnny says.

"You spent summers here, right?"

"In Seoul," Johnny affirms, "With Taeyong. He used to come around for dinner like once a week. But he just...stopped."

"You haven't called him?" Jaehyun asks.

"Of course. He doesn't answer."

Jaehyun looks at him sharply. “Why wouldn’t he answer?”

“He just doesn’t pick up, Jae, I dunno what to tell you.”

"Nothing happened between you two?"

Johnny shrugs. "It's like there's a vendetta against me. My college roommate, my friend Ten? He's Thai, lives in Thailand, but he used to Facetime me at random times. Middle of the night and stuff, just to talk. That stopped too."

"For no reason," Jaehyun says.

"For no reason."

"That's...fucked."

Johnny finds himself next to tears, which shocks him. It’s a sad story, he guesses, but he’s never laid it all out like this before. He swallows against the lump in his throat, hoping that Jaehyun won't notice.

"And then Mark left," Johnny says. "He was a student at a university here, he had no reason to go but...he left me a voicemail saying he had a family emergency back home in Canada and he was just gone."

Jaehyun just nods again. His neutral acceptance is somehow much more reassuring than expressive comfort would be. Not for the first time, Johnny wonders how he got so lucky with a roommate.

"So I was like, completely alone. All the time. And I couldn't...focus? On anything. I was gonna go insane if I kept having to go to that lab to work all alone and get yelled at to do more, faster, better. I quit my job."

"I bet your boss loved that," Jaehyun says dryly.

"Oh, loved it," Johnny agrees, sarcasm heavy. "They offered me money, a raise, a promotion. They didn't want to let me go."

"Why?"

"Um," Johnny can feel himself blushing.

Jaehyun smiles at him, just a little bit. "We've already covered your science miracles, John. You're some kind of whiz kid, is that it?"

"I...may be a robotics prodigy, yeah," Johnny says sheepishly.

"For real?"

"I was an automatic PhD candidate at Michigan U, after I presented my Master’s thesis. They would have let me in for the next semester with no supplemental app."

Jaehyun raises one eyebrow. "Huh. Who knew?"

"Anyway," Johnny says, distinctly embarrassed, "If I had stayed at the company, I would have been basically equivalent to all the lab doctorates, even though I was a junior developer and a technician before."

"If you wanted to go back, would they let you?" Jaehyun asks.

"No questions asked, they would."

"Fuck."

"But I couldn't. I wouldn't."

"Why not? You obviously love robotics and are a huge fuckin’ nerd," Jaehyun points out.

Johnny nudges his untouched box of chicken with the ball of his foot, pushing it gently across the tabletop. "Some of the things they asked me to make...they weren't...they weren't _real_."

"Like what?"

"One of the directors asked me about emotional tech," Johnny laughs again, dry, angry. "Do you know how insane that is? Technology that accurately replicates emotional processing. Like, not a software that mimics emotional responses based on stimulus. A real piece of AI that _creates_ and processes its own emotions."

"I'm guessing that's not possible," Jaehyun says.

"It's science fiction! Absolutely insane. We made medical tech. Prostheses. Real things! Asking me to make emotions?" Johnny shakes his head.

"They can’t ask you to do things that are impossible to do," Jaehyun agrees.

Johnny feels very small all of a sudden, as if sharing all of these things with Jaehyun have shrunk him down, shriveled him like a balloon losing air. He just nods.

"So…all of that. Happened. And then I put out the ad looking for a new roommate," Johnny says.

Jaehyun brightens. "And then I moved in."

And then Jaehyun moved in. Good, perfect Jaehyun, who Johnny doesn't deserve.

"Hyungie, I'm really sorry," Jaehyun says. "I didn't know."

"You don't need to be sorry."

"No, but I still am. No wonder you get stress dreams and stuff. If all of that was weighing on me all at once, I'd lose it."

Johnny grins sidelong at him. "So I'm losing it?"

"No, you're keeping it together," Jaehyun says. "Which is impressive as hell. You have a lot of people to worry about. And you're far away from your family."

"I think I worry too much."

"Well, that's okay. I'll be here to worry about you, okay?"

Johnny picks up his chopsticks again. He might as well eat. He stuffs some tteok into his mouth, nodding at Jaehyun.

Jaehyun looks down at the couch cushions, speaking mostly to himself as he says, "I'll keep an eye on you, hyung. That's what friends do."

\---------------

On Sunday night, Johnny has his first peaceful night’s sleep in six weeks.

No nightmares.

No long metal hallways.

No screaming.

Nothing.

He wakes up Monday morning shockingly refreshed. Motivated, even. He might even apply for some jobs or something, stop draining his savings to pay rent.

He’s already made breakfast and settled down at the tiny kitchen table to work on his laptop when Jaehyun comes stumbling into the kitchen. Johnny looks up to say hello, and nearly knocks his coffee onto his keyboard in his haste to get up and dash to his roommate’s side.

Jaehyun looks horrible.

His face is puffy and there are dark circles beneath his eyes in a way that betrays he got no sleep, and he’s holding himself gingerly, like something inside is aching. But most striking are the fresh purplish bruises along the inside of his forearms.

“What happened to you?”

Jaehyun smiles ruefully. “I went too hard at practice yesterday.”

“Bullshit,” Johnny says, reaching out to take Jaehyun’s arm.

Jaehyun is a swimmer. Muscle strains, sure. Even a headache or earache that would keep him up, sure. But bruises like that? Johnny feels over the discolored skin gently, and Jaehyun doesn’t pull away, so Johnny prods for a moment more. He can feel little rough nicks in the skin under his fingers.

“Jae, these look…” Johnny swallows.

“Like what?” Jaehyun sounds genuinely mystified.

“They look like needle tracks.”

“Oh.”

Johnny is about to ask Jaehyun a very difficult question about intravenous drug usage, but Jaehyun lives in his house. He sees Jaehyun every single day. Johnny works in medical tech. He would have found _something_.

They also live in Korea, where street drugs are all but nonexistent because of the strict laws surrounding controlled substances. This isn’t the States. If Jaehyun was dealing in illegal drugs, he would be jailed for quite literally the rest of his life. Johnny has to give him the benefit of the doubt here.

“It looks like when a nurse fucks up drawing blood,” Johnny says instead. “Blood goes all under the skin like this.”

"I haven't been to a doctor in like a year," Jaehyun says.

He's so groggy. He's barely meeting Johnny's eye, fighting to keep his eyes open in the bright sunlit kitchen.

"Did you go out last night?" Johnny asks.

"'Course not," Jaehyun says. "I had dinner with you and then did homework for a couple hours."

"You didn't get these from homework, Jae."

"I don't know, hyung."

Jaehyun sounds so sincere. Unless this is some bizarre kind of self-harm that Jaehyun did and then repressed, Johnny doesn't know what could have happened.

It's more than a little frightening, that Jaehyun could walk around so obviously injured with no apparent recollection of what happened. Or, Johnny reasons, he could very well know and just doesn't want to tell the truth. Maybe he was in the hospital, and doesn't want to worry Johnny. Maybe the drug thing is actually true.

Regardless, it rubs Johnny the wrong way.

But Jaehyun is considerate, and Jaehyun never pries into Johnny's life more than is appropriate. He seems disoriented, uncomfortable. Johnny doesn't want to overstep his boundaries on this. Doesn't want to ruin the thing he has going with Jaehyun.

He'll keep an eye on things, but he'll let Jaehyun take care of Jaehyun.

He's sensible, Johnny reasons. Practical. Like Jaehyun himself likes to joke, he's not like Mark, not naive or trusting.

Jaehyun can take care of himself.

\---------------

The nightmares don't come back.

Johnny sleeps soundly every night, until the night he discovers that he was horribly, horribly wrong about Jaehyun.

Jaehyun cannot take care of himself.

Johnny's woken up suddenly by the sound of Jaehyun's bedroom door slamming. It makes Johnny sit upright in bed, wide awake like he's been doused in ice water. He can hear Jaehyun moving through the apartment. Things clatter to the floor, echoing loudly as Jaehyun knocks them down.

Something is wrong.

Johnny gets out of bed, pulling on yesterday's clothes from the pile on the floor where he'd left them. As he shimmies his sweater over his head, he can hear voices.

Voices, outside their window.

They live on the third floor.

_“He isn’t there?”_

_“Mm. No.”_

_“Should we look?”_

_No need.”_

There are two distinct voices, and they are almost familiar. They send a very strange kind of shiver down Johnny’s spine.

He peeks out his bedroom window. Of course, no one is there.

Unless their neighbors in the building across the way are having a very loud conversation with the windows wide open, there's no way someone can be outside the window. Jaehyun is talking, too, his deep voice mumbling rapidly as he moves around their living space. Johnny slides the first pair of shoes he sees onto his feet, dashes into the living room as soon as they're on.

He makes it just in time to see the front door slam. Jaehyun's gone.

Johnny follows. Whatever Jaehyun is running from, Johnny can't see it. There's no one in their apartment, no one at all. Jaehyun is just gone.  
  
He can hear Jaehyun’s uneven breathing and the way his shoes thud down the stairs, and Johnny starts taking the steps two at a time, his heart in his throat. The lobby door slides open, and as Johnny reaches the ground floor, he just barely catches sight of Jaehyun’s brown hoodie, running as fast as his legs will take him.

So Johnny takes off after him.

He still doesn't know what Jaehyun is running from.

That almost makes it worse. Jaehyun is so practical and levelheaded. He's not afraid of ghosts, not afraid of home intruders. There's nothing that Johnny can bring to mind that would scare him like this. But Johnny does not doubt for a second that he is running from something real. Something that is worth being afraid of.

Jaehyun runs and Johnny follows.

He zigzags his way through the dimly-lit neighborhood streets, past villa apartments and the ivy-covered walls of Korean-style brick homes, ducking around the endless blue Hyundai Porters and silver sedans with their little scratch-proof stickers. It's like Jaehyun is trying to lose someone, but the only person chasing him is Johnny.

There's no one else.

Eventually Jaehyun stops in the shadow of the community center, a tall brick and stucco building that looks out over the top of the local park. Johnny runs up on him without thinking. He grabs Jaehyun by the shoulders and pins him with his back against the wall of the building.

"Jae!" Johnny hisses.

Jaehyun's eyes are wild, like a trapped animal. There's only the barest hint that he recognizes Johnny as he stands there, silent, staring at Johnny.

Then, Jaehyun moves. He puts a hand to his temple, and drags it all the way down to his jaw, tracing the length of his own face. His eyes are still wide and glassy.

"Jae?"

Jaehyun doesn't answer.

Slowly, agonizingly, he rolls up the right sleeve of his hoodie. And then the left sleeve. Both arms are a mess of bruises, needle pricks, and fresh scabs. A wave of nausea washes over Johnny as he looks down at Jaehyun's arms, weakly raised between them.

Jaehyun tugs the neckline of his hoodie down, and his neck is more of the same. Bruises, marks all over his lymph nodes, up and down his throat.

"They practice on me. They take me."

His voice is a breath, less than a whisper. Johnny fights the urge to throw up.

"Who does?" he asks.

Jaehyun's enormous eyes fix on Johnny. "They do."

"When?"

"Every day. Nights," Jaehyun lets one purpled wrist clutch onto Johnny's sweater. "And I need you to talk them out of it. Johnny."

"Talk..." Johnny shudders. "Talk them..."

"Johnny."

"Okay."

Jaehyun is babbling, speaking nonsense. But he's so hurt. He's so scared. Johnny is scared. Johnny is scared out of his mind. But he says it again.

"Okay. I'll protect you."

It's second nature to agree.

Whatever this is. Whoever is doing this. No matter how unhinged it all seems.

Johnny will protect Jaehyun.

\---------------

Jaehyun comes back to himself relatively fast after that. It's not pretty to watch. No, Jaehyun just sort of crumples into Johnny, pressing his face into Johnny's sweatshirt and crying in silent gasps that break Johnny's heart a little.

"T-they're gone," Jaehyun stammers. "We can - I can't - we can go home. They're gone."

Johnny wants to get Jaehyun home, where it's safe. Where they can curl up on the couch and talk about this. So they go.

As they meander back in the direction of home, slowly because Johnny doesn't want to exhaust Jaehyun more than the panic attack has already done, Johnny knows he has to ask. Even if Jaehyun doesn't want to answer. They need to talk about this.

"Jaehyun, what the _fuck_ is going on?"

Jaehyun looks helpless. "Hyung, I can't-"

"Do you owe someone money? Are you on fucking heroin or some shit, Jae? Because you'll be locked up for life for that, Jae, I can't just-

"Hyungie, no, it's not..." Jaehyun reaches out and grabs Johnny's hand, squeezing it tightly as they walk. "It's not like that. I'm just scared."

"Scared of what?"

"That you're gonna run screaming when I tell you," Jaehyun mumbles.

"Try me."

Jaehyun keeps his eyes on the asphalt as he speaks. "They're two boys. Maybe our age? One has silver hair, and one has red hair. They look like twins. They're exactly the same size. Same body."

"Okay."

"They come for me. At the apartment. Or while I'm on my walk home. They take me away."

"They kidnap you," Johnny clarifies, a heavy weight settling in his stomach.

Jaehyun makes a tiny noise of distress. "It's not _normal_ , though, hyungie. They're so strong. They just grab me. I'm not little, hyungie. They're so strong and so fast, they carry me away like it's fucking nothing."

Johnny is struggling to comprehend, and he’s sure that it’s obvious, but he just squeezes Jaehyun's hand back.

"They take me to this building...and there's so many people there. Kids. These girls, like supermodels. A bunch of other guys, and they're all so strong. There's these two old men, and they do-" Jaehyun's voice breaks, "They do all these things. They take blood and they measure me and do eye exams, taste tests-"

"Nerve exams?" Johnny asks.

Jaehyun shrugs wildly. "And then they let me go."

"They let you go."

"I'm so scared, hyungie. I'm scared they won't let me go next time."

"Jaehyun, what the ."

"I know it sounds crazy, but I _swear_ I'm not making it up. They're like superhumans, they carry huge machines like it's _nothing_ and they do fuckin' calculus in their heads and-"

"Hey," Johnny stops them, turns to Jaehyun, who's worked himself back up to tears. "Hey. Jae. Calm down, I don't think you're crazy."

"You...you..."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Johnny asks quietly.

"Because it's insane. You would have never believed me."

"I believe you. Someone's been doing this shit to you, Jae, look at you," Johnny tugs Jaehyun on again, the front door of their building just ahead. "You're you. If you say this is happening, then it's happening."

"Even though it's insane?"

Johnny hesitates on if he should say what he thinks, as he enters the key code and lets them into the building. They climb the stairs, Jaehyun trailing quietly behind Johnny. They go into the apartment, still a mess from Jaehyun's whirlwind of an exit.

"It's not that insane," Johnny says finally, "It sounds like organ trafficking, honestly."

Jaehyun squeaks, and Johnny winces.

“O-organs?”

Johnny shrugs. “Medical trafficking is a thing. They could be harvesting your blood, your plasma. That stuff sells for a lot.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better.”

"But if it was organs…like kidneys or whatever, they wouldn't let you go and bring you back so many times. They'd just...you know. Do it. So I don't know," Johnny says.

"Are they just going to keep doing it?" Jaehyun asks, as he collapses into the couch, and Johnny knows it's rhetorical.

"Can you remember anything else?" Johnny asks him, in return.

"Like what?"

"Where do they take you? What do these people look like?"

Jaehyun bites his lower lip. "They're all beautiful. Too beautiful. Like idols. Like they've had tons of work done."

Johnny sets about making some coffee - no way they'll go back to sleep after this - and lets Jaehyun think.

"I don't know where the building is," Jaehyun says, "But everything inside it...has this weird logo."

"What's the logo?"

"Korean traditional art. Like Joseon style. It's a lotus flower."

Johnny stares into the coffee grounds, like they'll help him puzzle things out. "A lotus."

"Yeah. All the medical equipment, the walls, all the tech. It's all got this lotus flower on it."

"I don't know any medical company that has a lotus flower as a logo," Johnny says.

Jaehyun is silent then, just sitting and staring until Johnny comes back into the living room with coffees for them. They drink quietly.

It's becoming a real bad habit for the two of them, Johnny muses. Being up all night and drinking hot beverages and being scared out of their minds.

"Well, I could...there's one thing I could do," Johnny says.

"Mm?"

"I know a lot of people who work in medical tech," Johnny stretches his arms above his head, the joints aching from being clenched in stress. "They won't be too happy to see me, but I can go back to my old work and ask around."

"You're not gonna _tell_ people about this, are you?" Jaehyun asks, looking scandalized.

"No, do you think I'm an idiot?"

"Cuz if you tell people, I will definitely be fired from the cafe and probably institutionalized," Jaehyun says.

That's probably true. But there’s no reason to tell anyone the whole story. Nobody will believe them even if they try. It was traumatizing enough to Jaehyun to talk about it once.

This is the only way Johnny can think of to help. And Johnny needs to help. He's had too many nightmares about not being able to do anything when his friends are in danger.

He's going to help.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lotus can recover. A lotus isn't stopped or slowed down by anything. Rain rolls right off its petals. A flower that grows in muddy water, transforming filth into something beautiful.
> 
> I want you to be like that too, Johnny. Perfect. Like the rest of them.
> 
> (SM Entertainment Android AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reaction to this fic??? Is insane???? Thank you???
> 
> I literally got so overexcited about the love and support, I decided to post this Right Now Immediately rather than, you know, waiting and updating on some kind of regular schedule. Lol.

Johnny strolls into SM Ent. brimming with false confidence.

He'd had a long talk with himself on the way to his old workplace. It wouldn't do to show up begging for information, betraying how lonely and empty he was and how much he secretly missed getting to come to work and play and create and build robotic parts every day.

He isn’t going to come back. He doesn’t want to come back. But he can still miss the work. And God, does he. But it isn’t about that. This is a reconnaissance mission, first and foremost. He needs to be confident, easy. Graceful. He needs to act like they need him more than he needs them.

Which is true. He just needs to act like it.

Superhuman Machinery, Enterprises, known almost exclusively as SM Ent., is the biggest medical technology company in South Korea, specializing in prosthetic limbs and surgical replacements and implants. It operates out of an enormous system of warehouses and offices in southern Seoul, a complex that sprawls into the foothills and has nooks and crannies that even Johnny has never explored.

Johnny had been one of their main robotics engineers, working on the tech side rather than the medical side of things. He was recruited right out of graduate school, two years ago, and he had moved all the way from his campus in Michigan to Seoul just for them.

It's strange to walk through the public front doors into the main management office, rather than to go right to the labs, but Johnny keeps his cool facade intact. He wouldn’t be able to get into the labs without an ID card, even if he tried. The receptionist, for her part, seems very surprised to see him.

"Mr. Suh," she says, "What...are you doing? Here? Why are you here?"

"I actually...wanted to ask a few questions," Johnny says, willing a sheepish smile onto his face, through his distinct discomfort. "Are any of the managers in?"

"Most of the executives are busy, now, but...I can get Joy-unnie for you, if you want," the receptionist says.

"That's perfect."

So the young woman at the desk pages for Joy Park, one of the HR managers, a woman around Johnny's age who had been with the company about as long. They'd been rather close when Johnny still worked for SM. Eating lunch together, with the other technicians and staffs. Drinks after work with their coworkers. That sort of thing.

When she comes into the reception area and sees Johnny, her expression is peculiar.

It begins as surprise, and morphs ever so quickly into a cold look of satisfaction, before settling again on happy surprise. It's so fast that Johnny wonders if it was just him, projecting his own weird feelings about being back at SM onto her. As he gets up to greet her, she just looks as ethereally pretty as ever.

"Johnny!" Joy says, delighted. "Hi!"

"Hi," Johnny says back, putting on his most charming grin, the one that Mark used to affectionately call the 'flirtin' smile.

No. No thinking about Mark. This is an intelligence mission, Johnny isn't going to let his guard down and lose focus by thinking about Mark. The Nightmare. Jaehyun's story...that night, the bruises, the blood...no. Not that. Not now.

"What brings you here?" she asks pleasantly.

"I wanted to ask you something," Johnny says.

Joy looks at the big silver watch that peeks from under the edge of her crisp, expensive blouse. "I have a few minutes to chat, if you wanna go sit down."

"Sounds great."

With another big smile, Joy leads him back into the office. They go into one of the main conference rooms, the big perfectly-decorated one that the company uses for important investors and presentations. The one designed to impress. It seems like an odd choice to Johnny, far too formal for just a quick conversation with an ex-employee.

"Coffee?" Joy asks, as Johnny sits down in one of the plush office chairs. "I'm getting one for myself, it's no trouble."

"Sure."

She leaves to get the drinks, and Johnny takes a second to look around the room, which hasn't changed at all since he was there last, probably nearly a year ago, now. The same framed photographs of the robotics labs as they'd developed over the company's twenty-odd years in business. The same pictures of the company CEO and CMO and their children and all the staff.

And in the center of it all, the same enormous, framed printed copy of Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics.

There's a copy in almost every room in the company. Johnny had asked why, once, and been told that the company's founder is a huge fan of Asimov, a fan of science fiction. The man is head of a robotics research company, after all. So Johnny just chalked it up to the eccentricity of a rich old man. Rich old people like all kinds of weird shit.

"You will never guess who's here," Johnny hears Joy say, just outside the door.

When Joy comes back in, she has one of the robotics lab managers with her, another stunningly beautiful woman named Irene. She had been one of Johnny's direct supervisors. One of the ones pressing him for tech advances, in his last weeks. One of the ones who broke him.

"Johnny!" Irene exclaims, her gorgeous face breaking into a winning smile.

"Hey," Johnny replies, trying and failing to match her tone.

He’s not all that happy to see her. Really, it’s strange to have acquired more of an audience for this intelligence mission. It’s just the icing on the awkward cake to have his ex-direct-supervisor in the room, too.

The women sit in chairs across from Johnny, and Joy passes him a paper takeout-style cup of steaming black coffee. They're both looking at him expectantly, and it takes Johnny a second to remember why exactly he'd come. Their combined energy, their overwhelming good looks...it's disorienting.

"You said you have a question?" Joy prompts, as if she could read his mind.

"Oh," Johnny nods, "Yeah, I...it's kind of random."

"We'll help if we can," assures Irene.

"I was wondering…God, it’s so stupid. I was wondering if you know any medical companies that have a logo with a lotus flower on it."

Both women sit up a little straighter, exactly at the same time, jolting as if someone has poked them with a pin. They just stare at Johnny, expressions a little blank, a little aghast.

And then they seem to come back to themselves.

Joy purses her lips. "I haven't...I don't think I have. Unnie?"

Irene shakes her head, "No. None of our suppliers or clients do, anyway."

"I've never seen a... _that_ on medical tech, Johnny, I'm sorry."

"What made you ask?" Irene asks him.

Johnny swirls his coffee around in its little paper cup. "My friend saw that logo on a machine and thought it was a funny thing for medical equipment. A lotus."

Again, at the word 'lotus,' the women both twitch. Johnny is uneasy in the pit of his stomach.

"Nope," Joy says again.

“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” says Irene, grinning. “Interesting. Now I’m curious, too.”

As Johnny puzzles over what to say next, someone walks by the conference room door. They glance inside as they pass, and when they see Johnny, they do a double take. Johnny looks up properly, to see one of the medical managers, a man named Byun Baekhyun.

He's different than Johnny remembers. He used to be a small, skinny kid, fresh out of college like Johnny. Handsome, sure, but still growing into his looks, settling into his adulthood. Now he's broad and filled out, dressed sharply, with perfect hair and skin and an air of superiority that definitely wasn't there before.

But the smile he gives Johnny is the same bright boxy-shaped one he's always had.

"Well, well," Baekhyun says, "Look at this."

"Hyungnim. Hi," Johnny says, as Baekhyun comes into the room and leans against the back of Irene's chair.

"Johnny missed us so much, he had to come back," Joy says, and though her tone is teasing, there's something sincere about her face that makes Johnny uncomfortable.

But Johnny just smirks, playing along. "That's right."

Baekhyun laughs. "I get it. We're a lot of fun."

Irene tilts her head back to look at Baekhyun, and then smiles. It's a cold smile. "Johnny had a very interesting question for us. Why don't you ask Baekhyunnie, too?"

They all look at him, and their expressions are matching amusement.

So Johnny does as he's asked. "I...uh. I asked if they knew any medical tech companies that have a logo that's a lotus."

All three of them do it. That same momentary twitch, that ever so slight bodily recoil as if they've touched something hot. It's so brief that if Johnny wasn't looking for it, he would have missed it.

But Baekhyun just keeps smiling at him. "No...I don't think I have. Have you?" He puts a hand on Irene's shoulder.

"We told him we haven't," Irene replies. “I think it’s an interesting puzzle, though.”

“Well, let’s try to get some answers for our Johnny, then,” says Baekhyun.

Irene sends Johnny a little wink.

"Doesn't Natkke House Tech have a logo that's a lily? Could it be that?" Baekhyun asks.

"He's not stupid, he's not gonna mix up flowers," says Joy.

“I didn’t say he was stupid!”

They banter for another moment, and Johnny stares just above Irene's head at the framed Asimov excerpt. Really, he'd always found it ironic that their company kept such a famous quote about robot ethics in their labs.

Because prostheses are kind of like that. Kind of like building robots. Prosthetic limbs are kind of just robot parts meant for human use. That's how they always explained prostheses to children, at presentations and in hospitals. You're like a superhero now. Part robot.

Strange.

Johnny comes back to the now when Baekhyun says his name.

"Are you sure you don't want to come back to the company, Johnny?"

"Am I what?" Johnny asks, flustered.

"Are you sure you won't come back?" Baekhyun repeats.

“What…why…”

“I’m sorry, that’s out of the blue,” Baekhyun grins, “Forgive me. I was just thinking about what a shame it was to lose you.”

Johnny shakes his head. "No. I knew what I was doing when I left. This line of work…it just isn't for me, after all. I’m sorry."

"You'd be a great asset, Johnny."

"I appreciate that, but really, hyung, I can't-"

Baekhyun's face is serious. "I know you love the work you did here. You love it."

"I do," Johnny agrees softly.

"You could come back right away. Do the same thing you used to do. Everything would be how it's supposed to be."

Johnny full-body shivers at that. The way Baekhyun is looking at him, the way he's speaking...it's not normal. It's predatory, almost. Like he's looking right through Johnny, instead of looking at him. Joy and Irene seem to find nothing out of place, as they sip their coffee and watch him coolly.

"Well," Johnny says, doing his very best to sound calm, "Well, you all don't know anything about the logo, so...that's all I wanted, really."

"Johnny-"

"I'll be going, then," Johnny interrupts. "I'm going to go."

He stands, leaving his cup on the table as he passes, and brushes by Baekhyun to leave the conference room. Their shoulders touch for a fraction of a second, and Baekhyun's body is ice-cold. Johnny jerks away from him, and walks faster than strictly necessary down the hall toward the exit.

They don't follow him.

The room behind him is silent. It's as if he had been in there alone.

The lobby is nearly empty when Johnny reaches it. The receptionist isn't at her desk, but there's a person coming in the front doors as Johnny approaches them to go out.

It's a man, tall and slim and handsome. He looks up, meets Johnny's eye, and Johnny's stomach lurches unpleasantly.

"...Yuta?"

Yuta Nakamoto is supposed to be in Hiroshima.

He was transferred away, off Johnny's robotics team, sent away to work at a company in Hiroshima as a consultant. He was the last to leave, after Kun was sent to Shanghai and Doyoung to Gyeongbukdo, the last one to say goodbye to Johnny for the last time. He was one of the many Jenga blocks pulled out of Johnny’s life, all in a row.

But he's here, and he's different.

His hair, short and brown before, is long and floaty, a bright white streak that falls to his collarbones in graceful waves. His face is pristine, perfect, like he's wearing makeup. When he smiles at Johnny, his face is so, so perfect. It almost hurts to look at him.

He looks almost superhuman.

"Johnny."

Yuta's tone is uncertain. He looks shell-shocked, just for a moment, and then his entire aura changes to something confident and easy. It's almost like Yuta's personality, his cocky and sarcastic humor, but there's an edge to it now. Something uncanny. It’s as if Johnny is watching someone do a very lifelike impression of Yuta.

"How are you?" Yuta asks.

"I'm...okay, o-okay," Johnny stammers.

Yuta, this new Yuta, just nods. "Good."

This is like Yuta times ten. Yuta 2.0. Johnny doesn't like it.

"I can't believe you're here," Johnny says, letting his genuine surprise filter through.

"I'm here," Yuta agrees. "So are you. Interesting."

"I'd love to catch up, but I have to..." Johnny points at the exit vaguely.

Yuta nods again. Johnny doesn't wait for him to say anything else. He just leaves, scurries out the front doors and doesn't look back.

Something is very, very wrong at SM Ent.

\---------------

"They know something."

Johnny's sitting slumped over at the kitchen table, his head resting on the wood beside a cup of water that a very patient Jaehyun has been filling and refilling for him over the last few minutes as he repeatedly drains it.

He'd been home for about an hour, and Jaehyun had just come home a little bit ago. Johnny told him everything about his visit back to SM, all in one big rushed breath, about how it revealed both nothing and far, far too much. About Joy and Irene and Baekhyun, about how they reacted when he talked about the lotus logo. They've been mutually panicking about it since.

"He said that if I came back, 'everything would be how it should be.' People don't say shit like that, Jae, he was like a Bond villain," Johnny whines.

"You really think they're hiding something?" Jaehyun asks.

"I know they are," Johnny says, "Because I...fuck."

"What?"

"I saw Yuta there."

"Yuta," Jaehyun says slowly, like he's tasting the name. "Your work friend? The one you told me about, right?"

"He's supposed to be in Japan!" Johnny exclaims.

"He came back?"

"He wasn't supposed to come back. That was the whole _thing_ , the whole reason he was transferred. He was going for good!"

Jaehyun shrugs, moving toward the living room. "Maybe he just came back."

"Transfers don't work like that," Johnny insists, raising his voice as Jaehyun moves farther away. “It would be a waste of money to move him all the way over there and then just…move him back.”

"Well, I don't know."

"God, and something was just so _wrong_ about it all."

Something occurs to Johnny then. He stands up, and walks after Jaehyun.

"Hey, what was that thing you said about those...the boys? The ones...the ones..." Johnny gestures at Jaehyun.

Jaehyun's face falls. "Johnny-"

"No, please, I...what did you say?"

"They're handsome," Jaehyun says.

"Like unusually handsome, right? Like _too_ handsome?" Johnny presses.

"What are you getting at?"

Johnny paces toward the window, then toward the door, back and forth. "Like their faces were designed to look that way. Too perfect. Superhuman."

"Yeah...yeah, I guess. I guess so."

"That's how Yuta looked," Johnny says.

If Jaehyun looked panicked before, it's nothing compared to how he looks now. He rubs at his wrist pensively, and Johnny hates that he can picture the bruises underneath his shirt sleeve. Johnny reaches out gently and moves Jaehyun's hand away so that he doesn't irritate the wounds more.

"He was Yuta, but he wasn't. It wasn't him, Jae, something was wrong with him. Something changed," Johnny says.

Jaehyun is quiet for a moment, and Johnny can't blame him.

"What does Yuta look like?" Jaehyun asks.

"He's kind of tall," Johnny says, "Skinny. He's Japanese."

"What else?"

"Round eyes, tall nose. Right now his hair is white. Shoulder length, I guess."

Jaehyun breathes out heavily. "He sounds familiar. But he's not...you know."

"He didn't..." Johnny begins.

"He isn't one of the people who come after me."

_"Noooo, honey, he's not."_

The world stops spinning.

It's like a nightmare, like everything is moving in slow motion, as a voice comes from down the hall, from their bedrooms. Jaehyun looks at Johnny, his face pale, eyes blown wide in abject terror. Johnny's sure his face looks pretty much the same. Someone is here with them.

"Yuta-yah isn't the one who came to collect you," says that same voice, light, lilting.

Footsteps thud down the hall, more than one person's worth. More than one person, inside their house. They're coming slowly, making every second stretch into an hour with the anticipation, turning it into some kind of horrible game. They're sauntering, strutting, the sound of heavy boots taking lazy long steps down the hardwood.

Right before the people come into view, everything clicks into place for Johnny.

He knows that voice.

He knows it, he knows _it knows it knows it knows it inside and out_ , has heard it laugh and cry and scream and moan his name and -

"That was us."

Standing right at the juncture of living room and hallway. In Johnny's home. In Johnny's home that he shares with Jaehyun.

Ten and Taeyong.

Johnny's first thought, his first coherent synapse fire, is that he is dead, and this is hell.

Ten and Taeyong.

They're…they’re beautiful.

They've always been beautiful, but this is a cold, inhuman kind of beauty that makes Johnny's heart ache in his chest. They look so _different_.

Taeyong has long, messy red hair, coiffed so that it falls around his face and frames his perfect features like a dream. Ten's hair is choppy, a deep blueish grey, and his sharp nose and jaw stand out against the dark cruelness of his eyes. They didn’t used to look like _this_.

"I missed you, Johnny," says Ten, this vision that was once his Ten, voice light and gorgeous as it ever was.

"You're more handsome than ever," Taeyong adds.

"Why are you _here?_ " Johnny gasps, in spite of himself, his own voice ripping through his throat, "How did you get here? I'm-"

Johnny lurches forward, closing the distance between them in one, two, three big steps, and reaches out to wrap Ten in a hug.

Ten is not strong. He's kind of short, his dancer's body is delicate and slim. Johnny used to make a big show out of picking up Ten and just sort of moving him wherever he wanted. Onto the kitchen counter. Into the closet. Whatever.

Ten is not strong, and yet.

He reaches out, casually as swatting a fly, and pushes Johnny with one ice-cold, delicate hand. Johnny goes stumbling back, the force comparable to having been bodily tackled, and smashes into the couch.

Ten winces. "Sorry, baby."

"You know them," Jaehyun gasps, and then shrieks, "You _KNOW_ them!"

"Jae," Johnny gasps, wind knocked out of him from the impact, "Jae, this is...Ten. And Taeyong. Ten and Taeyong."

"But...they're..." Jaehyun falters, turning his huge, blank, terrified eyes on Johnny.

They can't be.

It can't be them, Johnny reels.

Them, the ones who have been kidnapping and mutilating Jaehyun, traumatizing him. It can't be...

Taeyong pouts. "We've been so impolite, Jaehyunnie."

"I'm so sorry," Ten agrees, "But we needed to motivate Johnnycake a little bit."

"A little motivation," Taeyong simpers.

"We missed him so much," says Ten.

"Everyone missed him."

Ten nods. "It was so fun to have you come visit."

Johnny coughs. "V-visit?"

Taeyong's mouth drops open, a sarcastic mimicry of shock. "Oh, we've said too much, haven't we? Well. Anyway. We miss our Johnny."

"Everyone does," says Ten.

"Mark misses him the most."

" _Don't_ ," Johnny growls, "Don't you fucking _dare_ talk about-"

Ten's eyes flash white like car headlights, and Johnny falls silent as terror rips through him.

"You don't talk to me like that," Ten chastises.

He prowls closer to Johnny, Johnny, who's holding his aching ribs, leaning against the couch. Ten pushes Johnny back, back, back until he's standing up straight, clutching the back of the couch behind him. Ten's hands are like ice through the material of Johnny's shirt as they slide up to rest on his shoulders, making his skin crawl.

"You missed me, too," Ten purrs. "I know you did. Did you miss this?"

He's so close now, batting his long, beautiful eyelashes. He leans in and kisses Johnny. It's like kissing porcelain, like pressing his lips against the outside of a cold drink. Ten's tongue licks dirtily along the seam of Johnny's lips, and Johnny nearly gags, because his tongue is cold, too.

Ten pulls back, "Mmm. I missed it."

He wanders back to join Taeyong, still just lingering at the entrance to the room. Jaehyun makes a sound like an animal that's been kicked, and Johnny whips around to look at him, pleading for him to understand that Johnny has _nothing to do with this_ , has _no idea_ what's going on...

He had no idea it was his own friends doing this. He doesn't know how, or why. What's wrong with them? What happened to them?

"Enough fun. We're here for a reason," Ten sighs dramatically.

"He's coming with us," Taeyong says, pointing at Jaehyun.

"No, he's not," says Johnny.

"Who's gonna stop us from just taking him?" Ten scoffs.

Johnny looks at Ten, this person who was once Ten. "I will."

"We're not supposed to make a scene," muses Taeyong, "But if we have to make a scene..."

Taeyong stretches one arm over his head lazily and leans into the stretch, and in the silence of the apartment, Johnny can hear hydraulics whirring. It takes a moment for Johnny to realize that the sound is coming _from_ Taeyong.

"But if we have to make a scene, we will."

Johnny's mind is racing, trying to piece together what he's seeing and what he's heard these last few days and the only things he can conjure make no sense at all. This is Ten and Taeyong, _Taeyong_ and _Ten_.

But it's not them, is it?

Not really. Not anymore.

Ten beckons Jaehyun forward with one outstretched hand. Jaehyun does not go.

"Taeyongie...what...what happened to you?" Johnny says hoarsely.

"We've been busy," replies Taeyong.

Ten nods, "We've been waiting for you, Johnny."

"But you left us," says Taeyong.

"Left us."

"You made us come to you, Johnny."

"We had to get you attention somehow," pouts Ten.

The way they talk in tandem is making Johnny dizzy. They move toward Jaehyun, walking in that same leisurely, confident way. There's nothing Johnny can do to stop them from taking Jaehyun again. They know it, Johnny knows it, Jaehyun knows it.

But before they can close the gap, the doorbell rings.

Taeyong snarls. "Fucking food delivery or some shit? Are you kidding me?"

Ten puts a hand on Taeyong's shoulder. "Yongie, you know we can't-"

"I know we can't!"

"With witnesses? We're not allowed-"

"I _know!_ "

While they bicker, Jaehyun dashes for the doorbell panel. Ten sees him, and so fast that he's just a blur across the living room, so fast that Johnny knows for a fact that this thing in front of him is not a human being, bolts for Jaehyun. But Jaehyun is there first, and he buzzes whoever is ringing into the building.

"No!" Ten yowls, and smashes his hand into the panel.

It's just an open-hand slap, but the metal box crumples under the force, falling right off the wall into several twisted pieces.

There are a few moments of tense silence, where Jaehyun stares at Ten and Ten glares at Jaehyun and Johnny tries to come to terms with the fact that Ten has superhuman strength and eyes that glow and is probably about to murder him and Jaehyun in plain daylight on a weekday evening.

They didn't order anything, they're not expecting anyone, but whoever this person is, they've bought them a precious few minutes more.

"Fine," Taeyong spits, "Fine. You get your samgeopsal or whatever the fuck, and then we finish up this little visit."

Footsteps traipse dutifully up the stairs, from the ground floor...up...and up. Johnny inches closer to the door, closer to Jaehyun, putting some space between them and the other two. Then there's a demure knock at the door, just two sharp beats. Ten raises his eyebrows at Jaehyun, gestures for him to open it up.

But before he can, there's a woman's voice from outside. It's just slightly muffled, but they can all make it out.

_"Johnny. When they hit the ground, you take Jaehyun and run."_

"The hell does that mean?" Ten asks, exasperated.

Johnny has never been good at doing what he's told. But in this moment, he'll try anything.

Jaehyun opens the door.

Outside is a woman. She's short, powerfully muscled, with short-cropped hair and a pretty, androgynous kind of face. Her eyes are sharp and intelligent as she looks beyond Jaehyun, setting her gaze on Ten and Taeyong. Most noticeably, she has a large speaker strapped to her front, on top of her athleisure outfit.

With the same kind of superhuman speed that Ten possesses, she moves between where Johnny and Jaehyun stand, and where Ten lounges beside Taeyong. She smirks over her shoulder at Johnny, and turns on the speaker.

The sound is so high-pitched that Johnny can barely hear it, just a squeak of radio interference to his ears. But Ten and Taeyong crumple to the ground instantly, falling flat as if they've been shot in the knees.

" _No_ ," shrieks Ten, in agony, " _NO_."

His voice is metallic, distorted, like a speaker after blowing out, and Johnny just stares at him.

"GO!" the woman screams.

There’s really no other option. Johnny takes Jaehyun by the hand, and runs.

\---------------

They don't stop running until they're underground.

The closest subway station is a few blocks from their apartment. But seeing as Ten and Taeyong were hesitant to do anything to them with a witness present, Johnny figured going somewhere busy, like the subway during rush hour, was probably as safe an idea as any. Lots of witnesses.

Jaehyun collapses on a bench across from an ahjussi's pastry stand, and Johnny stands next to him, clutching at a stitch in his side from running for so long. He's gasping for breath, his adrenaline still pumping so hard that his eyes ache and his hands are vibrating.

They don't talk. There's nothing to say that's not absolutely batshit insane.

They just breathe.

After maybe twenty minutes of jumping at small noises and keeping watch in every direction, that woman comes into the subway station. The speaker is gone, but she has a large backpack slung over her shoulder that's about the right size to hold it.

When she catches sight of the two of them hunkered on their bench, she rolls her eyes and jogs over to them.

"Jesus Christ, I've been looking for you all over," she says. "Come on, we have to get out of here before those two pieces of biotrash come looking for you."

"Go where?" asks Johnny.

"Johnny, just fucking shut up and let me save your life," she snaps.

The yelling brings Johnny back, and he gapes at her. "Wait. Amber?"

Amber Liu rolls her eyes again, harder. "Did you seriously not recognize me until now?"

She leads them through the turnstiles, just pressing her palm to the gates so they open for all three of them, and down onto the subway platform.

"Who is she?" Jaehyun asks Johnny.

"She was my fucking T.A. in college," Johnny says, as they're jostled onto the crowded subway car with businesspeople and schoolchildren. "She got me into my first robotics class."

"Yeah, you're welcome for that, asshole," Amber says.

Even though they're pressed between plenty of other sweaty people, Johnny surges forward and crushes Amber in a hug, which she returns with a wicked laugh.

"C'mon, I'll tell you everything once we get to my place," Amber says.

They ride the subway for a long time. The Orange Line goes all the way through Seoul, snaking over the river and all the way out to Goyang-si, a long, long way. They stay on the metro until they reach Gyeongbukgung station, at which point Amber leads them off.

They join the usual crowd of foot traffic coming out of the Seoul main government building, mixing with the last few tourists from the palace, staying hidden in plain sight as Amber takes them up into the shopping and residential mix that surrounds the historical palace.

She stops them outside a small cafe.

The place has lush green gardens and an outdoor patio, and picture windows that open fully into a small seating room lined wall to wall with mirrors.

"The Mirror Room," reads Johnny, from the small placard on the outside.

"We're safe here," Amber says.

"Safe...even from them?" asks Jaehyun.

Amber grins. "I'll show you."

She takes them through the cafe, out the back door to a small one-story Korean-style house, tucked like a secret between larger businesses. Then, casual as anything, Amber takes out her phone, and taps it.

The house and the cafe whir to life. The mirrors in the cafe, in the garden, all turn around to reveal the high-tech paneling on the back. The roof of the house shudders, a large metal cage doming the wood-slat roof. The walls glow, revealing that they're not brick, but smart-technology blocks. The siding on the house shivers and changes colors in a wave, like chameleon skin, becoming transparent. The house has vanished. Where it was, just a vacant lot, as if it never existed at all.

"They're not mirrors," Amber smirks. "It's metamaterial cloaking."

Johnny looks at her, dumbfounded. "Meta..."

She pats his cheek. "I invented it. We're safe here. Let's go inside, and I'll tell you everything."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea...of kissing someone...and their whole fucking mouth and TONGUE being just ice fucking cold...is the GROSSEST THING I have ever imagined and I hate it with every fiber of my being.
> 
> The Mirror Room is a real cafe in Seoul and it's one of my fave places on earth.
> 
> And speaking of kissing, stan my queen Amber Liu and stream her song Other People ;)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lotus can recover. A lotus isn't stopped or slowed down by anything. Rain rolls right off its petals. A flower that grows in muddy water, transforming filth into something beautiful.
> 
> I want you to be like that too, Johnny. Perfect. Like the rest of them.
> 
> (SM Entertainment Android AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel really fuckin bad bc this chapter is almost all exposition but like...I've also put a TON of research and worldbuilding into this AU and I'm proud to show it to you. So. Enjoy whatever the fuck this is.

Amber's house is cozy.

It's deceptively spacious on the inside, furniture artfully arranged to make the small space look full but not cramped. There's a little open-plan living room and kitchen and a hallway with a few closed doors, presumably bedrooms. All of her furniture is American, worn and lived-in – two recliners straight out of an early 2000s Sears catalogue and a wooden coffee table like a million others at Goodwill, a slightly mismatched dining table and a set of chairs. It's like an American townhouse occupied by a group of students was transplanted into Seoul, and it makes Johnny homesick in the weirdest way.

She had turned the cloaking off to lead them inside, and then activated it again once the door was closed. They're completely hidden, and it's messing with Johnny's head a little bit to know that right now, he's technically invisible.

"You two can stay here, since the androids know where you live," Amber says.

"Androids?" Jaehyun repeats.

"Yeah," Amber hops up to sit on the back of the sofa, "That's what they are. Those things in your house."

"So they're robots," Johnny says.

"More or less. It’s kind of a lot to explain."

"They're robots," Johnny repeats, letting the truth settle in.

Jaehyun doesn’t say anything. He’s just standing beside Johnny, looking distinctly uncomfortable and very, very tired. Johnny can relate.

"That was Chittaphon, right?" Amber asks, tone considerably softer.

Johnny chokes up almost instantly at the mention of his friend's birth name. "Ten, yeah."

Amber nods. "He went to school with us, I remember him.”

“We were inseparable,” Johnny says.

“A couple of punks,” Amber agrees.

“I hadn’t seen him for a long time.”

Amber smiles lopsidedly. “Me either. I can't believe he's a Lotus now."

The word hits Johnny in the middle of his chest as though Amber had thrown something at him. The exact thing that had led him back to SM, the thing that had led Taeyong and Ten to find him. Completely unprompted.

Amber knows something. Amber can help.

Johnny’s adrenaline, which had calmed down on their long train journey, is pumping through him again, making his hands twitch.

"A lotus," Johnny says.

Jaehyun blinks at Amber, seeming to catch up with Johnny. "Lotus. I saw that logo, we just talked about this...what is the lotus thing?"

"You've seen it, huh?" Amber asks Jaehyun. "Hm. They really were serious about you two, then, if you were seeing their equipment bare. With the lotus."

Lotus. There it is again. Johnny doesn't want to ask her about it. He knows now that it can't be anything good. It's worse than thinking Jaehyun does heroin, worse than some black-market phlebotomists harvesting his blood. But he needs to know the truth. For Jaehyun, if nothing else.

"What does the lotus thing mean?" Johnny asks, echoing Jaehyun.

"Where do I even begin?" Amber sighs. "I don't wanna freak you out. There's a lot that's been going on, Johnny."

“It’s a little too late for that,” says Johnny.

Jaehyun nods. “I’ve been freaked out nonstop for weeks.”

“Well, this won’t help.”

She swings around and drops herself properly onto the sofa, motioning for Johnny and Jaehyun to join her. They do, obediently, sinking into the overstuffed armchairs across the coffee table from her. Johnny can feel himself blankly staring at her face – it really has been so long since he’s seen her.

"What have you even been doing since graduation?" Johnny asks Amber suddenly. "I don’t think I ever saw you again after that."

Amber smiles at him, but it's sad. "That's because you didn’t. No one did. I disappeared. I became a Lotus."

"What does that even mean?" Johnny asks again, for what feels like the millionth time.

"Well," Amber hums, "I guess…I started doing development work for SM after I graduated. You know them, right, Johnny?"

"I worked for them," Johnny agrees. "But..."

"Yeah, _but_ ," Amber scoffs. "Look, Johnny. Fuck it. I'm not gonna sugar coat it for you. All the stuff you thought you did for that company? It's not what they say it is."

"I don't understand."

"They were lying to you, John. The whole time."

Johnny makes a frustrated noise. "What the fuck does that _mean?_ "

"They're not making prosthetics," Amber says simply. "They're making bionics."

"What's the difference?" asks Jaehyun.

"Prosthetic limbs are for people who are missing limbs, for whatever reason. Car accident. Born that way. Whatever," Amber says. "Replacements that are meant to do the job of the missing limb perfectly, just a replica of the thing that's gone."

Jaehyun nods.

“They’re rigorously tested, for safety and standards, and they’re usually developed under strict governmental supervision,” Amber continues.

“SM does that,” Johnny says weakly, not sure why he’s defending the company. “I worked with the Ministry of Health and Welfare people myself, they came like four times a year.”

“That’s all well and good, for prostheses,” says Amber. “We’re not talking about those. SM makes bionics.”

“Bionics are different?” Jaehyun prompts.

"Bionics are less...morally sound,” Amber says, darkly. “Since they’re not something that regular medical companies make – actually, I don’t think any other company makes them besides SM – they’re not monitored. No safety standards.”

Jaehyun swallows. “Oh.”

“They’re not need-based, like prostheses are. They're enhancements, not replacements. You don't _need_ to have a bionic limb, in order to get one. They're like human limbs, but better. Stronger. Some people would do anything to be bionic."

That's so ominous, it makes Johnny a little sick.

“SM does medical testing, though. On people, amputees and volunteers with missing limbs and stuff,” Johnny says, “Wouldn’t they need to do that on bionics too?”

“Who says they don’t?” asks Amber quietly.

“What are you saying?”

"I just told you, you don't have to _need_ a bionic limb. If you wanted to test out a bionic limb, you could just..." Amber pauses, rolling up the long sleeve of her shirt. "Take a young, excited robotics tech..."

She pulls up one leg of her joggers, and then the other. She tugs the other shirt sleeve up. Both of her arms are covered in tattoos that definitely weren’t there in college. They’re pretty, but Johnny gets the feeling that they’re not what Amber is trying to show him.

"And promise her money...power...a future that she could be proud of..."

She rubs her forearm pensively, not even looking at Jaehyun and Johnny anymore.

"And give her four amputations. And instead of a person, you get..."

Amber taps gently in the crook of her elbow. With a soft 'whoosh' of hydraulic pressure, her forearm opens up.

An access panel.

She taps at the joints on her other elbow, both of her ankles. All four of her limbs have seamlessly opened up to reveal the truth: they're all fake. Metal. Bionics.

She's an android.

Johnny doesn't want to look, the twisted ethics of what's in front of him making him light-headed. But his inner scientist can't help but lean in for a closer glance.

The tech inside is sleek hydraulics and a system of advanced hardware lines. They're decades ahead of anything on the market for medical technology, decades ahead of the stuff that normal prostheses patients receive.

They look dreadfully like prototypes that were examples in the SM laboratories. Johnny has worked on tech like this. He's invented some of it himself.

" _When?_ " Johnny croaks, ripping his eyes away from the bionic limbs and back up to Amber's face.

"The bionics? God...maybe six years ago, now?" Amber says. "I can show you."

As if by will, all four panels snap shut, and Johnny can't even see the seams where the panels join the rest of her eerily human-like exoskin. She’s impressively calm about the whole situation. Probably, Johnny supposes, because she’s had a number of years with the bionics. It doesn’t stop him from being overwhelmed into silence. Jaehyun, too, looks somewhat ill, staring at Amber wordlessly.

Amber hops up, and moves to the corner of the living room, where there's a sturdy desk with a large desktop gaming rig, complete with a red and black Secretlab gaming chair.

“What are you doing?” Johnny asks.

She sends him a perplexed look as she settles into the gaming chair. “I told you. I’m gonna show you everything.”

She boots up the machine, and as it comes to life, she beckons the boys over. Johnny peers over her shoulder as she pulls up a file labeled 'LOTUS PROJECT.'

"I only have information for the first few generations," Amber says idly, as the file loads, "I'm sure they've done a lot since I skipped out."

"What are we looking at, here?" Johnny asks.

"Stop asking stupid questions, Jesus. You wanted to know about the Lotus. I have a lot of what you need to know right here."

Johnny spares another glance at Jaehyun, hovering at Amber's other shoulder. He looks equal parts disgusted and fascinated. He's handling this surprisingly well. So is Johnny, to be honest, but Johnny chalks his own calmness up to his history with prostheses and medical robotics. People with fake limbs is kind of the norm, for him.

"SM Ent. has been developing androids since 2008," Amber says.

"Shit," breathes Jaehyun.

"Secretly, of course," Amber hums. "And very, very illegally. I guess technically we're not androids, either, since androids by definition are robots that are made to be like people. We're people who are made to be like robots."

She clicks on the first folder, labelled 'E.E. CLASS.'

"E.E. was the very first class they made. That stands for Elective Enhancement."

"Elective," Johnny says, "Like..."

"They volunteered," Amber affirms.

"Gross," says Jaehyun.

Amber snorts. "You have no idea. They were the first class of androids, so it wasn't...as bad as it got later. They had the limb procedures like mine, quadruple amputations. It was less advanced tech, but still. As far as I know, they were the first full human-android hybrids. And they all volunteered for it, so at least they were excited about the end result."

"Why would you volunteer for something like that?" Johnny wonders quietly.

"Power, I think. Prestige," Amber says. "What's more important and powerful than being an experimental human hybrid?"

"It's crazy," Jaehyun murmurs.

"Yeah, well. At least they wanted it, and knew what they were getting. The rest of the androids after them didn't volunteer."

" _What?_ " Johnny gasps.

"Then was my class. f(x) class," Amber clicks on the next folder, 'F(X) CLASS.'

"Effects?" says Jaehyun.

"F. X," Amber enunciates. "Functions. Like in math? We were supposed to be the first fully functional class, fixing the problems that they found in the E.E. class."

"Supposed to be," Johnny says.

Amber nods. "Supposed to be. But as soon as all of our procedures were done and my class was finished, there was a flood of new tech ready for human trials. That’s how it always is, on the cutting edge. One project completed, a new one starts that’s even better. So they began the next android class."

She clicks on 'EXO CLASS.’

"EXO, the exomorph class androids. And then right after them came the RED class. By the time I escaped, they were starting to research a whole new class of androids, the NCT class," she stares at the screen. "I don't have any files on them. There weren't any experiments done yet."

Amber looks up at Johnny, and then turns to look at Jaehyun. Johnny is just gazing the screen, the four little folders blinking back at him innocently.

Real people were experimented on, turned into human-robot amalgamations. People like Amber. People like Ten, and Taeyong. Some of them voluntarily. Most of them not. It’s a lot to take in at once.

"So you're an f(x) android," Jaehyun says.

"Yeah," Amber says, waving her arm in front of Jaehyun's face. "So all of these are fake."

She flexes her fingers. Johnny watches the digits move, as fluid as real muscle and sinew and skin. A small, sick part of him marvels at the technology that must be inside, the way it must have taken years to develop. He didn’t work on fine motor joints very much, in his own research, but he knows enough to know that whoever made these ones is a genius.

"But inside here..." she pounds on her chest with the other fist, "It's all my real organs."

Amber spins her chair around, so that she's facing the two of them. They step back, making some normal distance between them all.

"If you fuckin' stab me in the chest or something, I'll die, same as anyone," she says wryly. "But being mostly human makes me immune to almost all technological weapons. Like the one I used on your buddies back there."

"What was that thing? The speaker?" Johnny asks.

"An LRAD. Long range acoustic device," Amber says.

"That's a military thing," says Jaehyun, surprising Johnny.

Amber nods. "They're used for crowd control and stuff, by police. Nonlethal way to get people to haul ass. But I mixed up the decibel level, played with the pitch, and now it's like a scrambler. It messes with the communication frequencies that SM androids use, and freezes their internal servers. Like a taser for robots."

"Do you build all these things?" Johnny asks, gesturing to the house at large.

Amber grins. "Everything in and around this house is my tech. Faraday cages, metamaterial cloaking, smart panels. This house is virtually untraceable."

"Jesus."

She raps her knuckles on her gaming table. "Knock on wood. It's impregnable, man. Nothing else on Earth like it. I reverse engineered SM's own plexi-plastics."

"From what?" asks Johnny.

"From these," she kicks one leg, "They handed the tech right to me, no pun intended. It's pretty much unbreakable. SM androids couldn't bust into my house even if they wanted to."

"You're a genius," says Johnny.

Amber pouts at him. "It's taken you this long to realize that?"

"I knew it before," Johnny assures her, "But Jesus fucking Christ, Amber. You...all of this? Just you?"

She nods.

“Jesus,” says Johnny again.

“I’ve always been smarter than you. I’m honestly a little insulted.”

"Wait," says Jaehyun slowly, as if he's just come to terms with something, "Wait."

"What?" asks Amber.

"So...what they did to you. That's what they want to do to me, isn't it?

Amber pales. "What do you mean?"

"You don't know what's been going on?" Johnny asks.

Amber shakes her head slowly. "I track SM tech when it's out in the real world. Easy enough to put a tag on digital emissions signatures that match mine."

"You track them?"

"Yeah. It’s never anything good if they let the assets leave the compound,” says Amber. 

“The assets,” Johnny repeats.

“The androids. I got a reading of SM technology moving around in Seocho. I followed those two biotrash weapons to your apartment once, and I traced 'em once I figured out it was you, Johnny."

"They're not after me," Johnny says, "They're after Jaehyun."

"They've been kidnapping me," Jaehyun says, "And taking me to the labs."

"They do nerve tests and take bio samples from him," Johnny says. “His whole body is fucked up with where they’ve been pricking him.”

"Oh, God, that’s why you said you’ve seen the Lotus tech," Amber swallows. "Okay. Let me see."

Jaehyun peels off his sweatshirt, and seeing all of his injuries at once bring that wave of nausea rushing back into Johnny's stomach. His bruises are all still dark and fresh, mottled purple against his skin, sitting at all his major joints. It's been a couple days since the last time Jaehyun was taken, as far as Johnny knows, but the newest ones still look painful. Johnny aches for him.

"They were taking blood and stuff. And measuring me, really detailed measurements all over my body," Jaehyun says, red-cheeked.

He doesn't even look embarrassed, Johnny realizes, at least not about the act of undressing in front of a perfect stranger. He looks humiliated. Exposed. Like the injuries are something shameful. 

Amber looks sober. "Blood samples, huh? Measurements?"

Jaehyun nods.

"You're not gonna want to hear this, Jaehyunnie, but I think they were prepping bionics for you. Building them to your measurements and priming them with your stem cells to make the healing process faster," Amber says, getting closer to Jaehyun, "Can I touch you?"

He nods again, and Amber runs her hands over the bruises and cuts.

"I have no idea why they did such a messy job on you, though," she says. "The rest of us just...disappeared. SM wanted us, and they took us."

Johnny is suddenly fervently, desperately grateful that Jaehyun is standing there in front of him.

"That's how they did it with me and my class," Amber continues, "Us and the ones after us."

Jaehyun looks moments from passing out. "So they were gonna...cut...cut off..."

Amber moves up to hold his shoulder, as if to ground him to the earth. "Jaehyun-"

"And give me..."

"Probably," Amber says firmly. "Probably even more than that."

"What do you mean?" Johnny asks.

"Well, what I have, my limb replacements...that's what they did for E.E. and f(x) classes. After that, it got more..." Amber gulps. "In-depth."

"Like how?" Jaehyun asks.

Amber fixes him with a serious look. "Are you sure you want me to show you?"

"Yes."

"You're certain."

Jaehyun still looks ill, but his voice is firm. "Yes."

"Okay. Come on."

Amber turns back to the computer, and Johnny and Jaehyun crowd around her again. Johnny is hyperaware of Jaehyun, shirtless and so, so discolored, beside him. He slips his hand into Jaehyun's and squeezes. Jaehyun squeezes back.

On-screen, Amber pulls up the EXO class file again.

"The next gen after me had bone implants in their torso. Basically a new rib cage, fully bionic exoskeleton right under the skin," she says. "It got rid of the risks that I have. Remember, stab me, I die. Not the EXOs."

Johnny clutches Jaehyun's hand tighter.

Amber clicks to the RED class. "And then the RED gen had the first full torso redevelopment. Basically...they don't breathe. The company figured out how to bypass respiration. And they were working on an endocrine system replacement. RED stands for Respiratory-Endocrine Development."

"That's horrible," says Jaehyun.

Amber nods. "Every step, they were basically trying to get farther from humanity and closer to android perfection. They wanted to use the human body systems as a basis, and then make them better. I have no idea why. But that’s what they want."

Johnny is scanning the RED file, reading over their hardware upgrades and base servers, when he notices a section on the side of the file. It's a list of names, the model names of the androids. The names of the people who became androids. His heart drops.

"Wait a second," Johnny says. "Wait."

He reaches around Amber and clicks on the RED profiles. There are five names and tiny headshots of the androids, all women: Yeri, Wendy, Seulgi, Irene, and Joy.

Irene and Joy.

That can’t be a coincidence, can it? That nausea rises again, and Johnny’s actually kind of impressed that he hasn’t thrown up yet.

"Irene and Joy are androids," Johnny breathes.

Amber clutches Johnny's wrist where it sits on her computer mouse. "You know Irene and Joy?"

"I saw..." Johnny sputters, looking down at Amber, unseeingly, "I saw them today! Earlier today!"

"They still work at the company?" Amber asks, the horror evident in her voice.

Johnny nods wildly. "They always have! They...I...I've always known them!"

Johnny's voice sounds frantic to his own ears. He can see Jaehyun looking at him with no small amount of panic, and he can see the fear in Amber's eyes. She pries his hand off the computer mouse and holds his quivering fist against her chest.

"They've both been turned for probably three years," Amber says softly.

"Before I worked there," Johnny realizes.

Amber is gentle. "Yeah, Johnny. They were never human. Not when you knew them."

Never human. The whole time.

"Who else isn't human?" Johnny demands.

"Who...what?"

Johnny points at the screen. "Who else at SM is an android?"

Obediently, Amber clicks over to the EXO class. Johnny scans the profiles, and his vision blurs with the adrenaline rush when he recognizes another name.

"I knew something was wrong with Baekhyun," he says.

"You know Baekhyun, too?" Amber asks.

"Yes."

"Johnny," Amber sighs, "Johnny, that company is full of androids. Hell, half the staff is probably androids now."

"The whole time," Johnny murmurs. "They were there the whole time."

"You couldn't have done anything," Jaehyun says, "They were already...already..."

Amber lets Johnny's hand go to rub at her own forehead. "If Baekhyun is active..."

"What do you mean, active?" Johnny asks.

"...There were problems with the early models," Amber says.

Her tone falls noticeably, and Johnny reaches back down to drape an arm around Amber's shoulders in an awkward hug - awkward, because he's so tall and she's sitting down. It has the desired effect, though, because she takes a shuddering breath and continues.

"The E.E. class and f(x) class had some major bugs when we were first modified," she says. "Two of our teammates...well..."

She clicks on the f(x) file and the E.E. files, opening them side-by-side on her monitor, and gestures weakly at the profiles.

"They didn't make it."

Johnny looks at the tiny photographs. Each class file has one of its five little profiles labeled in big red letters, 'OUT OF COMMISSION.'

"SM let them die," Amber spits. "I'm not gonna talk about it."

"Amber..." Johnny says softly.

But she just shakes her head, gasps in a breath. "And then EXO class lost three members before the bionic upgrades even started. Three of the recruits escaped. None of us ever saw them again. They're alive, somewhere out there. Just...gone."

"Smart," Jaehyun murmurs.

"One guy, an EXO android, escaped a little before I did," Amber said, "And then me. All of the E.E., f(x), and EXO class androids were deactivated because of that. Except for us."

She pulls up two files. One is on a man named Yixing, who is handsome in a sharp, cold way, and one is Amber's own file. They're both labeled 'MIA.'

"We escaped," Amber says, "And the REDs are still active as in-house tech. Someone told me once that they're too smart to deactivate. I guess they work management now."

"What are Ten and Taeyong, then?" Johnny asks. "If all the other classes aren't active anymore."

Amber tilts her head back to look at him. "They must be NCT class. Neo Cardiac Technology."

"Cardiac?" Jaehyun repeats.

"The first fully-implanted bionic cardiovascular system," Amber explains. "That was the goal they were working toward when I left. I don't really know anything about that class, though, if they exist now."

"Is that what they want for me?" Jaehyun asks.

"Unless they have an even newer class that I don't know about, I would say yes."

"But we're not letting that happen," says Johnny firmly.

Jaehyun rocks back and forth on his feet anxiously. "Why...would they want _me?_ "

Amber shrugs. "Usually, when SM goes looking for fresh meat, they want standout types. Some of the past androids are volunteer, like I said, but a lot of others are just important in some way."

"Like what?" asks Johnny.

"RED class Yeri was from a chaebol family," Amber says, after a moment. "My teammate Krystal has a sister who's a singer, so she was well-known already. E.E. class Kibum was a print model, super handsome and smart. Jongdae was an internet star. Athletes, tech geniuses...anyone with strong traits."

"Celebrities," Jaehyun says. "Students."

Amber nods. "Anyone. They'll just take them."

"Why does no one notice?" Jaehyun wonders.

Amber grins darkly. "Money can smooth over anything."

"Still," Jaehyun says, "Why me?"

"They must have seen something in you that they liked," Amber says. "Maybe at school, or work, or something. I'm sure they have eyes everywhere. Scouts. Feelers. They noticed you somehow."

Jaehyun looks appropriately troubled by this, and Amber just gives him a tight, understanding smile.

"Here's the real question," Johnny says, "Why was Project Lotus even started?"

"No clue," admits Amber. "They wouldn't tell an android something like that, I was just a body for them to play with. And by the time my upgrades were all completed, tech had already advanced so much that they didn't need me. I was decommissioned pretty fast."

"Then why even do that to you?" Jaehyun objects.

"Practice. Extra hands," Amber shrugs, "Greed. But I've been trying to fill in the gaps. About everything. What Lotus is for, why we exist. You...you two can help me."

"How can we help?" asks Jaehyun.

"SM isn't used to having enemies," says Amber.

Johnny blinks at her. "So?"

Amber gets up from her computer, pacing away into the room. "So, they have no idea how to deal with someone going after them. They barely know I exist anymore."

"Okay..." Jaehyun looks puzzled.

"So if we want to dig for info, find out their motivation...maybe even stop them someday? They won't know what to do," Amber insists, "They're so arrogant, they have no defense against intel probes or physical hacks."

"They have androids," Johnny points out.

“I _am_ an android. They don’t scare me.”

“Te- those two back there seemed pretty scary,” says Johnny.

Saying Ten’s name makes his chest lurch unpleasantly, so he swallows the word before it comes all the way out. He can see Jaehyun looking at him with no small unease.

Amber scoffs. "I walked out with classified files on a fucking flash drive. If we can get in and find the NCT files, we can find out what they're doing next. Make a plan. We can-"

"No."

Jaehyun is shaking his head emphatically, looking so out of sorts Johnny worries that there's another panic attack coming.

"No?" Amber repeats, stunned.

"No," says Jaehyun. "You just told me they want to rip me to pieces and turn me into a robot. The answer is no. I'm not going back there."

Amber turns to Johnny, pleadingly, "Johnny. He needs to understand, we need-"

"No. If Jaehyun says no, it's no," says Johnny evenly. "Today has been fucking brutal. We need to eat, get some sleep, and not think about this for a while."

Amber wilts. She glances between the two of them guiltily.

"Fine," she says, "Yeah, fine. I'm sorry. I'm not being fair."

"We're not angry," Johnny says.

"No, it's not fair," Amber repeats, "I got overexcited. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Jaehyun assures her, looking calmer. "I'm just not...suicidal. I'm not going against cyborgs who want me dead."

"Androids," Amber says peevishly.

"Whatever."

She smiles at them, warm and normal again. "I'll go to the convenience store and get us some shit, okay? You guys make yourselves at home."

Amber gathers her phone and wallet and dashes out the front door, promising to return in a few moments. Once she's gone, Johnny looks at Jaehyun.

"Well. That sure happened."

\---------------

Amber brings them toiletries, some convenience store socks and underwear that are surprisingly comfortable given their place of origin, and of course, food.

They sit in her living room, eating triangle kimbap and drinking a little bit of soju. Just to take the edge off. The dining table was bypassed entirely, opting instead for the comfort of the couch. Some reality show plays on the TV, mindless noise as they eat and try to settle into the new normal. Johnny and Jaehyun had both showered and changed into clean clothes of Amber's; she’s still the same tomboy that she always was when Johnny knew her in college. Her collection of men's clothes is extensive, and some of her oversized pieces fit Johnny and Jaehyun decently well, considering their height and builds (big and tall and muscular on all counts).

"Thanks for letting us crash here," Johnny says.

"Letting you?" Amber laughs, "If you leave, you'll like, actually die."

"Don't remind me, I’m still not used to being on the run," Jaehyun moans.

"Thank you guys for being my breakthrough," she says. "I'm glad you're both okay."

"But really. Thanks, Amber," Jaehyun agrees.

Amber tosses back another shot of soju. "Jeez, you guys. You're welcome for not letting you die. It's not like Johnny is my fave little brother or anything. And you're his boyf-"

"ROOMMATE," Jaehyun interrupts emphatically, "His roommate! Just his roommate."

Johnny peers around at Jaehyun, and finds his face set casually but his eyes wide and panicked. It’s a different panic from before, not exactly fear but something close. He can’t tell what Jaehyun is thinking at all, and he wasn’t paying enough attention to catch what Amber said to fluster him so much.

Amber looks at Jaehyun as if he's just sprouted a pair of wings, stifling a laugh into her hand. "Right. Yeah."

"We're just roommates," Jaehyun insists.

Amber nods. "I got that."

She stands up and stretches, and begins collecting the empty plates and cellophane kimbap wrappers from around her coffee table. Jaehyun is still holding her gaze, pleading something with his eyes. Johnny just tosses back another shot. Now is not the time to try to figure out what that’s all about.

"I'm gonna tweak the LRAD in my room, for a while," Amber says, carrying the plates into the kitchen, "The rooms are all soundproofed, so, y'know. You're safe."

She passes by them again on her way to her bedroom, sending Jaehyun a very not-subtle wink. Johnny laughs at the way his face burns red. He missed Amber.

Jaehyun turns to Johnny once she's gone. "She was kidding about that. The soundproof thing. I think."

Johnny shrugs. They left him behind in the conversation long before.

They finish the last of the soju, only a few more sips, and Johnny collects the bottles and sorts them into Amber's recycling. Jaehyun goes ahead of him to the bedroom, still pink-cheeked and muttering. When everything's clean, Johnny reaches the guest bedroom door to find Jaehyun lingering there, staring into the room.

There's only one queen bed in the guest room. And Jaehyun looks mortified.

Johnny doesn’t really know why. It’s not like they’re strangers. They can share a bed for a while, Johnny wouldn’t mind. But Jaehyun’s expression says enough.

"I can sleep on the couch," Johnny offers.

"No, that's not fair," Jaehyun says.

"Well, you seem pretty uncomfortable about sharing," Johnny says.

Jaehyun shakes his head almost imperceptibly. "No, it's...I'm..."

"It's just me," Johnny coaxes, grinning.

He's not sure why Jaehyun is being so fidgety and weird, but it's kind of cute. Johnny can't help but goad him a little.

"It's fine. We'll be fine."

\---------------

They lie motionless, side by side.

The bed is plenty big for two people, but Johnny does not think they could physically be any farther apart without falling right the fuck off. Touch has never been weird for them; they give hugs and throw an arm around each other's shoulder and things all the time. They’re both cuddly people overall. 

Why is this so different?

"Why is this so weird?" Johnny asks Jaehyun, his own voice jarring in the silence.

"Beds are intimate," says Jaehyun.

There's silence again for a while, but it's less awkward.

Johnny hesitates, and then asks, "Are you okay, Jae?"

"No."

"Me either."

More silence.

Something's shifted in the vibes, though. They're not holding themselves stiff anymore. Johnny's whole body is more relaxed, and Jaehyun moves his arms up to fold under his head.

"I was serious about the spooning thing, you know, hyung," Jaehyun says. “The other day. I think it would help.”

Johnny sputters. "You - do you - do you wanna spoon...now?"

"Kinda, yeah."

"Okay."

So Johnny turns onto his side, facing Jaehyun, who's still laying flat on his back.

Jaehyun laughs. "Did you forget? I said you need to be the little spoon. To make you feel better."

Slowly, slowly, Johnny turns himself over the other way, so that his back is to Jaehyun. He feels far more exposed this way, now that he can't see Jaehyun, see if he's comfortable or embarrassed or anything. There's a little rustling of the sheets, and the bed dips ever so slightly as Jaehyun moves, until he's pressed up against Johnny from behind.

It's actually...nice. Jaehyun is warm and solid, and it's kind of reassuring to have that presence holding onto him.

"Okay?" Jaehyun says.

"Mmhm."

Jaehyun loops one strong arm around Johnny's waist, and presses his forehead to the nape of Johnny's neck. Suddenly, it feels a lot more intimate, with Jaehyun’s gentle breathing against Johnny’s back and the entire spans of their bodies meeting.

"See?" Jaehyun says softly. "It helps."

They just stay like that. It's not awkward like Johnny feared it would be. It's nice.

Johnny gets drowsy quickly, the stress of the day finally fading, the warmth of the bed and Jaehyun's body heat combining to put him to sleep. He shifts around a little, trying to get comfortable. His whole body moves back against Jaehyun's a little bit, and - oh.

Oh, God.

No.

Well.

"Jae?" Johnny says, his voice cracking.

"Mm?" Jaehyun's voice is rich and sleep-heavy.

"Is...is that-"

"Don't talk about it," Jaehyun cuts him off.

"Alright."

Johnny lets it go. There have been much weirder things happening to him today. He just falls asleep. With Jaehyun's very definite boner pressed up against his ass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No disrespect WHATSOEVER meant here, fellow MeUs and Shawols. I miss them too. 
> 
> I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU ALL. No guarantee that I'll change anything, because the words kinda just come when they come. But. Do you all prefer short chapters more often (this length, 5-6k words) OR long chapters less often? Currently I break up the plot where I think it makes sense but I could also see combining some scenes into longer chapters. Idk, just curious.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lotus can recover. A lotus isn't stopped or slowed down by anything. Rain rolls right off its petals. A flower that grows in muddy water, transforming filth into something beautiful.
> 
> I want you to be like that too, Johnny. Perfect. Like the rest of them.
> 
> (SM Entertainment Android AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The people have spoken, and shorter, more frequent chapters will remain the modus operandi around here. Amen to that. 
> 
> I feel like this is another chapter of just filler...lot of emotions here. Lot of JohnJae. Don't worry, this is the last calm one for awhile. Enjoy the fluff while you can ;)

Johnny wakes up to find Jaehyun already gone.

Not gone, gone, like gone forever or anything. Just not in the bed.

The other side of the bed is neatly made, exactly half of the bedcovers tucked crisply in and Jaehyun's pillow propped up straight. It's charming in a weird way that makes Johnny smile as he stretches and groans his way out of the covers, careful not to mess up the half that Jaehyun has already fixed. He slept well, all things considered. He feels vaguely better than he did yesterday.

As he sits up, he notices that he's been left something on the bedside table. There's a plastic cup filled with orange juice, and beside it, a little silver packet. Johnny rubs at his eyes, scrutinizing the oddly-shaped little package, until he realizes what it is.

It's a package of Poptarts.

They don't have Poptarts in Korea. Or at least, you have to know where to find exactly the right foreigner-oriented market in order to buy them. He hasn't eaten one since he was an undergrad, back in the States. He unwraps the crinkly silver foil, the same as it always was, to reveal two little brown sugar and cinnamon toaster pastries.

Hm. They even taste the same, Johnny muses, chewing on a bite of Poptart as he wanders toward the door, still in his rumpled, borrowed clothes from the day before. As he gets closer, he can hear quiet talking coming from the living room. Amber and Jaehyun.

Johnny lingers by the door, just listening. They're whispering, almost, a dead giveaway that they don't want Johnny to hear. Or maybe they're just trying not to wake him. Either way, there's an aura that he doesn't want to break. So he eavesdrops from where he is.

"I understand if you don't wanna talk about that stuff," Jaehyun is saying, "But I really do want to know."

"It's okay," Amber assures him, "You can ask me anything. I'm pretty comfortable with all this, after so long. I know it's fucked up. But...y'know. It's part of me now. Being afraid of it wouldn’t help me."

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to bring up anything-"

"I'm sure."

Jaehyun's voice drops even lower. "Well, then…there was one thing that I keep thinking about."

"You can ask."

"Did they do that all at once? Your...the bionics. Was it all, you know, one go?"

"I wish," Amber says, laughing darkly.

Jaehyun's voice gets even smaller, somehow. "Then, no."

"No. Four surgeries, four amputations."

“Christ.”

“That makes it sound worse that it was. But…yeah. They were separate.”

"I'm sorry," says Jaehyun gently.

"Don't be," Amber says. "It was a long time ago, now. I'm sure they knew that we wouldn't survive having multiple major surgeries like that, you know? One at a time was...I don't want to say _better_ , because it was fucking atrocious, but...I guess it was better, in way. Gave us time to heal before the next one."

"I can't imagine," says Jaehyun.

"Don't be so down about it," Amber says. "Even though they're bionic, just metal and wires and stuff, they're mine now. Here, I’ll show you."

Johnny comes further out of the bedroom so that he can see his friends more clearly. He stays like that, leaning on the door frame from the outside. They don't notice him yet, but they would definitely see him if they turned just slightly around. He still feels like this is a moment he shouldn’t ruin, though, so he just watches.

Amber is wearing a tank top today, and she's rubbing the tattoos that span her entire right arm with the other hand pensively.

"I laser-cut these into the skin," she's telling Jaehyun. "It's not real skin so a normal tattoo gun wouldn't really work on it. I tried that first, no luck."

"You did these?"

"I had help on the designs. A friend who can draw traced it all out for me. I just followed the patterns she made me with the laser and ink," Amber says.

"They're gorgeous."

Amber grins. "Yeah. And it means these aren't SM's anymore."

"The bionics," Jaehyun clarifies.

"Yeah. It kinda makes them feel like just arms and legs, you know? They're mine. I decorated them. I use them. My body is mine, like it was before."

"That's brave," Jaehyun says, the words small but the sentiment behind them heavy.

"Just stubborn. I'm hard-headed. It's my biggest fault."

They're smiling at each other, and it fills the pit of Johnny's stomach with warmth. Seeing two important people in his life get along is surprisingly intimate. Especially when they have something like this to bond over, something that Johnny can't relate to, really, or help them with. It's good. It feels good to see it.

The mood is high, so Johnny comes all the way into the room with a soft greeting.

"He's awake!" says Amber, when she sees him.

"Unfortunately," says Johnny, stretching and yawning theatrically, just to make them laugh, which both of them do.

Amber pouts at him sympathetically. "And still ugly in the morning."

Johnny balls up the Poptart wrapper, clutched in his hand, intended for the garbage, and throws it at her instead. It bounces harmlessly off her shoulder, but she reels back like it was a harpoon and not a piece of foil.

"Hey, those are contraband, you know!" Amber squawks, righting herself. "Respect them!"

"Is that what you do with your android powers?" Johnny teases, "Import contraband snacks from the US?"

"Don't go around telling my secrets, John, you're gonna get me busted."

Jaehyun grins at Johnny. "Sleep well?"

"Well enough," Johnny agrees.

Johnny collects the foil wrapper from the floor and throws it away in the kitchen, since he's not that much of a pest, no matter what Amber might think. When he comes back into the living room, Amber is looking at him expectantly from her perch in one of her armchairs.

"I have an offer for you boys," she says.

"Uh oh," says Johnny.

He holds up one hand with his thumb and forefinger in a circle, and puts the forefinger of the opposite hand into the circle. The universal signal for boning. Amber glares at him, which is exactly what he wanted. Teasing Jaehyun is fun, but Jaehyun is extremely calm by nature and just gives him attitude right back. Amber gets annoyed easily and is therefore infinitely more fun.

"Not that kind of offer."

"Thank fuck."

She rolls her eyes, but continues. "I'm gonna go...take care of some stuff today. Some errands."

"Do I want to know what that means?" Johnny interrupts, in his most perfect imitation of an annoying little sibling.

"Can you shut the hell up?" Amber snaps, "It's top-secret genius stuff, you wouldn't understand anyway."

"I'm a genius too."

"You wish," she sticks her tongue out at Johnny, and he smiles. "Anyway...while I'm out, do you want me to go by your house? I can pack up some stuff for you and bring it back here."

"Really?" Johnny asks. "We could just go back ourselves."

"No way," counters Amber.

"Why not?"

"Because it's much safer for me to just do it. My tech, my digital weapons? If those biotrash 'droids come back to look for you, I can escape. You can't," Amber says.

"Are you sure?" Johnny asks.

Amber nods. "Just give me a list of what stuff you want from your house, and I’ll find it. But..."

"Oh, God, there's a but," Johnny complains, sneaking a grin at Amber.

"But, you guys would need to run my cafe while I'm gone."

"Ah."

That's much less dramatic of a 'but' than Johnny expected. It makes sense, though. Amber has The Mirror Room, probably for income as much as for a front for her cyber-house. Staying open is probably a priority for her, too, when she’s not out staging rescues for her hapless old friends under attack by malicious androids.

"I would be gone overnight tonight," Amber says. "I need to go out of town for an errand, to pick up some tech pieces from a friend. I won't be back until tomorrow afternoon."

"That's fine," pipes up Jaehyun, who's been silent until now. "I'm a barista. I work at an Angelinus near my campus."

Amber glances at him approvingly. "I knew I liked you."

"I still think we could go with," insists Johnny. "Just to our apartment, not on your trip. It wouldn't be that much trouble."

Amber sighs heavily. She looks at Jaehyun again.

"Do you wanna go back there?" she asks him flatly.

"No," says Jaehyun.

He doesn't hesitate at all, and immediately, Johnny feels like an asshole for pushing the issue.

"No. I thought not," says Amber. "Let me take care of it, okay? Easy in and out. Grab your clothes, your whatever, bring it back."

"Alright," Johnny agrees, more for Jaehyun's sake than anything else.

"I won't be able to call or text while I'm gone," she says wryly. "Can't do something stupid like send up a traceable signal while I'm on a mission. But I trust you."

"You can trust us," Jaehyun says.

Something about him saying it, rather than Johnny, seems to make Amber relax.

"Alright," she says. "Get me your shopping list and I'll raid your place."

Johnny salutes her. "Yes, sir."

Bionic hands, Johnny learns, really fucking hurt when they slap you on the back of the head. Go figure.

\---------------

Johnny has never worked in a cafe before. He likes going to them, to read or study or get something to eat. Korean cafes, especially, are excellent places to camp out for the day. The 24-hour ones? Best invention of human society. But he's useless at the work that goes into keeping up a cafe.

Jaehyun tells him as much, two hours into their first day covering for Amber.

She'd helped them open the cafe that morning, after their conversation, run them through arming and disarming the security on her property, and then headed out with a backpack full of mysterious supplies.

That left Johnny to struggle immensely with basic cafe duties like making espresso and foaming milk before Jaehyun, an experienced barista and possibly the greatest person Johnny knows, took mercy on him and let him just run the register.

The cafe itself is admittedly adorable. Even Johnny, in his infinite aesthetic blindness, can tell that it's built to be as Instagrammable as possible. The dining space is just one long, small room, with a ceiling made of round logs that remind Johnny of a weird cross between a North American log cabin and a traditional Korean roof. The inside wall is one long, solid span of mirrors, making the long narrow space feel more than twice as big. With the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows, the kind that can fold open, it feels even bigger than that. The regular tables and chairs are clear plastic, and there's a low bar-style seating along the window that has round chairs like tree stumps.

Small potted plants line the bar seating and the walls, and the garden outside is an artfully overgrown tangle of vines and bushes, no bigger than the room itself, with more low tables scattered throughout. There's space for maybe ten or twelve people, total, inside and out.

Johnny likes it. He mans the register by the door, stocks the decorative little cakes and tarts in their glass case and washes the endless stream of dishes as Jaehyun churns out coffees and teas and all kinds of fruit ades. The customers are mostly couples on dates and groups of young girls out for the afternoon. Almost everyone takes a posed photo in the mirrors, and literally everyone takes a picture of their food and drink, so everything has to be perfectly plated.

It's a lot, but they make it work. Johnny never considers himself a people person, being a bit of an introvert overall, but he makes conversation with everyone who comes in.

And Jaehyun is in his element. He's calm, working with a kind of rhythm that's fascinating to watch. There's something wildly pleasant to Johnny about the two of them working side by side, in matching white aprons, doing their little tasks. Johnny's never seen Jaehyun at work – Johnny’s unemployed, and he never has any reason to see Jaehyun at his part-time barista job, so it just never comes up.

Plus, even though Johnny keeps forgetting it, even though it seems like much longer, they've only been roommates for a couple of months.

It's still cute to watch Jaehyun work. And it's even cuter still that Jaehyun _notices_ Johnny watching him. It makes him clumsy. He'll catch Johnny's eye and then overpour a drink, or knock over a slice of cake onto its side.

Why are these little things so _cute?_

Johnny wonders about it until they get a particularly interesting customer.

The lunchtime rush has thinned out, the couples on lunch dates gone for the day and the students squeezing in a coffee and a snack before hagwon classes headed off for their schedules. As Johnny dozes at the till, drowsy from the heat and the calm cafe music, a young man comes into the shop.

He's tall and skinny, handsome in a boyish kind of way, with thick brown hair and a bright blue t-shirt on top of a pair of joggers. His left arm is in a sling that wraps all the way up to his shoulder, but he's cheerful as he comes in and sits down at the table closest to the register.

He addresses Johnny in accented but confident Korean. "Hey. One iced americano?"

Johnny nods and adds the order to the register as the boy leans down to peruse the cake selection, moving awkwardly with his injured arm.

"What's good here?" the boy asks.

Caught, Johnny grins at him. "I'm new, so I haven't tried everything, but...how 'bout the strawberry roll cake?"

The boy shoots a blinding, happy smile back at him. "Sure. That too, please."

"Twelve thousand won," Johnny says, after typing in the order.

The kid doesn't move his left arm at all as he fumbles in his pockets to produce a black leather wallet and pay his tab. He holds the arm so gingerly in its sling. It must hurt a lot.

"Accident?" Johnny asks, taking the debit card that the boy offers and gesturing to his injured arm with it.

"You could say that," the boy says wryly.

He tugs the sling down to show that his arm is bandaged all the way from the wrist to the shoulder, the thick gauze taped securely down. It certainly looks painful, Johnny thinks, as the purchase goes through and he gives the boy his card back.

"Surgery on my elbow. Nasty shit," the kid says.

"Ouch," Johnny sympathizes, as the boy worms his wallet back into his pocket. "I'll bring your food to you when it's ready, okay?"

"Thanks, man."

The kid beams at him again as he goes to sit down. Johnny passes the order off to Jaehyun, and sets out to plate the bright-pink cake roll without breaking it into pieces, the way he’d broken the last two he tried to plate.

Aside from the kid, there's only one other couple in the cafe, a boy and a girl dressed to the nines and completely distracted by each other at the table in the farthest corner. Johnny watches the lot of them keep busy doing nothing until Jaehyun slides the kid's americano onto the tray, and Johnny carries it over to his table.

"Incoming," Johnny says.

The kid looks up from the phone cradled in one big hand, where a video of some kind of video game Let's Play is droning on at low volume, and moves his good arm out of the way for the tray.

"Thanks so much," he says. "I'm useless with my arm like this."

He shrugs, equal parts good-natured and dramatic, and Johnny smirks. This kid is kind of funny.

"How'd you hurt it?" asks Johnny.

"I'm an athlete," the boy says, "Basketball. I took a bad fall and smashed my elbow. Needed a couple pins put in to hold it all back together."

Johnny winces. "That sucks. You in college?"

"Yeah. Studying business. It sucks but the campus has a great rec team, so that about makes up for it. I would practice a lot. Until...well..."

The kid gestures at his bad arm, and Johnny nods.

"Damn, that sucks," Johnny says, "What's your name?"

"Yukhei." He smiles that big blinding smile again.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Johnny."

"Johnny," the kid hums, "Hm. My English name is Lucas."

"Well, Lucas," Johnny grins, "Yukhei. Still, nice to meet you."

"Same," Yukhei mumbles, around the straw as he takes a sip of his americano.

"Lemme know if you need anything," Johnny says with a wave.

He rejoins Jaehyun behind the counter, and their pattern resumes as another group of teens comes in to order. Johnny greets and charms the customers, Jaehyun makes their drinks like the pro that he is. A whole system. A routine.

The couple at the back table gets up and leaves first. The teens take their drinks to go. And after a while, Yukhei stands up, too. When he leaves, he calls a happy goodbye to Johnny and heads out into the summer heat. Johnny finds himself grinning stupidly as he clears the table and wipes it down, as he does the dishes.

"You really liked that kid," Jaehyun teases, over the running water at the sink.

Johnny looks up at him. "What?"

"Yukhei, was that his name? You liked him," Jaehyun repeats.

It's not an accusation or anything. Jaehyun is smiling easily, geniunely. He's just teasing, but Johnny still feels the need to deny, deny, to reassure Jaehyun that he’s not all that interested in the kid. Which is weird.

"I haven't worked customer service in a long time," Johnny says delicately. "I forgot how much I like working directly with people."

“When did you work customer service?”

Johnny turns off the faucet. “I worked at a bookstore in college. I liked it. I got to talk to people all day.”

"Ew," Jaehyun makes a face. “Customers are inherently annoying, though. Something about walking into a store as a customer instantly makes people unbearable.

"Hey, before this, I worked in a lab with like twenty other introverts. We were lucky if we spoke at all on a shift," Johnny says.

Jaehyun shrugs. "You just like working retail cuz you're a clown."

"Hey!" Johnny objects good-naturedly. "You work retail. You're a barista!"

"Yeah, so I like ending the day covered in milk," says Jaehyun. "I _don't_ like customers."

"Then why even be a barista?" Johnny teases.

"I'm not just a barista. I'm also a student."

As soon as those words leave his mouth, Jaehyun's face loses color so fast that Johnny's afraid that he's seen something. Johnny hesitates for a second, but he’s about to ask what’s going on when Jaehyun speaks up again.

" _Fuck,_ I'm a student."

"Yeah, Jae, I know."

"I've been skipping class!" Jaehyun wails, "Hyung, I'm cutting class!"

“So?”

“ _So?!_ I’m gonna get in trouble!”

Johnny stares at him. "Well, you can't just...go to school like normal. Not with everything going on with us right now."

"Oh my God, I'm gonna flunk out. Shit."

"Would you rather flunk out or get kidnapped again?" Johnny asks him. "They used to kidnap you on your walk to and from school, man. You heard what Amber told us, about what they'd do to you if they caught you again."

"I'm on a scholarship!" Jaehyun protests, "I can't just vanish! They'll pull my funding and I'll never get my degree."

Johnny grabs him by both shoulders, forcing Jaehyun to meet his eyes. "Jae. I will fly your ass to America and put you through school myself if I have to, once all of this is over."

Jaehyun flushes a deep pink.

"But for right now, you're staying here and _not dying_ , okay?" Johnny says.

For whatever reason, Jaehyun is flustered. He won't meet Johnny's gaze again looking instead at the middle of Johnny's chest, still pink-cheeked.

"Okay," he agrees, finally, "Okay, hyungie."

"Don't freak out on me like that, jeez," Johnny says, letting him go. "I thought you saw a robot or some shit."

"Sorry," Jaehyun murmurs. "I'm just...not used to all of this. Being on the run, or whatever. In hiding."

Johnny grins sidelong at him. "Is this something that people do, like, on the regular? It's fine, you _shouldn't_ be used to it."

"True," Jaehyun smiles back.

"We'll figure it out, okay? Eventually."

"Okay."

\--------------

They make it through the first full day.

The Mirror Room closes at 10pm, so Johnny is thoroughly exhausted by the time the last dish is dried and the tables cleaned and adjusted for opening the next morning, and by the way Jaehyun's wilting like a leaf, he probably feels the same.

"Does Amber have help?" Jaehyun wonders, as Johnny sets the passcode to lock the cafe like Amber showed them.

"For the cafe?"

Jaehyun nods. "If she does all this by herself, I bet she's dead by closing every night."

"Maybe her bionics help," Johnny says.

"Yeah. Maybe I should've let them give me super-strength or something, after all," Jaehyun says, with a rakish grin.

Johnny smacks him on the back. "Don't say that!"

"What if I wanna be a Barista-bot? Like Amber?" Jaehyun replies.

"Don't let her hear you say that. She'll kick your ass," Johnny warns. "Believe me."

Jaehyun makes a noise of fake distress as they go into the house. "And I can't even make it a fair fight because I have no super arms."

In spite of himself, Johnny laughs. They're dark jokes, probably ones that shouldn't be made, but the bare fact that he's making jokes mean that Jaehyun is truly calming down. Which is good. He's been so on-edge, and for good reason. But Johnny feels better knowing that he's not inches away from a panic attack.

"I wish she could call," Johnny says, as he arms the house's cloaking and security fields. "Let us know that she's not roadkill."

"I get it. But Amber can take care of herself, don't you think?" soothes Jaehyun.

Johnny nods. "I know she can."

"It's us that need all the help."

Johnny laughs again. It's easy to laugh with Jaehyun. Even when things are bleak, like they definitely are now, there’s something about Jaehyun that just puts him at ease.

They won't hear from Amber until she's back. So they just have to wait.

It's much more comfortable in bed that night. Johnny had realized, as they were getting ready to turn in for the night, that one of them could just sleep in Amber's bed for some distance. But he doesn't share that revelation with Jaehyun. That same overwhelming fondness from the cafe is still there, and Johnny doesn't really want to be apart from him.

They're more relaxed, though, as they slide into their respective sides of the bed. Jaehyun seems calmer after a day of something routine and familiar. Johnny just likes being next to him.

He must be going soft in his old age or something. It's weird.

"Wanna hear something stupid?" Johnny asks, into the darkness of the bedroom.

"What?" Jaehyun replies.

"I had fun today."

Jaehyun laughs softly. "Only you would think that working for no pay during an actual personal crisis is fun."

"What, you didn't have fun with me?" Johnny teases, putting on a wounded tone of voice.

"I make lattes for dumb teenagers all day anyway," Jaehyun says. "This was just the same thing with more anxiety."

"You're purposely avoiding my question."

Instead of answering, Jaehyun turns himself over, from laying on his back to laying on his side, facing away from Johnny. At first, Johnny takes it as a punctuation, and is content to end the conversation there, if Jaehyun doesn't want to talk anymore.

But then Jaehyun says, "You know what's helpful in interpersonal relationships? Reciprocity."

Johnny just stares at Jaehyun's back for a moment, trying desperately to decipher what he means by that.

"Spooning really did help you feel better," Jaehyun says, less subtly, and Johnny can feel the warm, stupid grin as it spreads across his own face.

"Ahh."

So Johnny returns the favor. He turns onto his side, too, and lets Jaehyun settle himself back against his chest. Jaehyun is tall, but Johnny is even taller, and something about this feels right, as he hooks his knees up behind Jaehyun's and crowds in close. Johnny's missed having someone to be close to, like this. Even though Jaehyun is just looking for human contact because he's anxious (that's what this is, right? Johnny wonders desperately), it's nice.

It's been a while since...well...since Ma-

"Hey," Jaehyun says, jolting Johnny out of his own head.

His voice is small. Johnny tucks his arm around Jaehyun's middle, careful to avoid the points on his ribs and his arms that are still bruised.

"They weren't after your organs after all, were they?" Johnny comments mildly. "I was wrong about that. Super wrong."

"Hey," Jaehyun says again, as if Johnny hasn't spoken at all.

"Yeah," Johnny answers.

"I know this isn't any of my business, and you can tell me to fuck off if it's too invasive," Jaehyun says timidly, "But I was wondering..."

"Am I really that mean? Telling you to fuck off..." Johnny mumbles into Jaehyun's hair.

"When I moved in...there was no furniture in the other bedroom. The one that you told me was Mark's."

Johnny jolts backwards in surprise just a little bit, before he can control it, and he knows that Jaehyun feels it. He doesn't know why Jaehyun is bringing this up now, of all times.

"Oh. Well."

Jaehyun's voice is still gentle. "I know Mark had moved out already, when I came, but he went back overseas, right? He left...without telling you, right?"

"I mean..." Johnny's voice cracks.

He's not sure why he's so nervous right now, why his stomach is roiling so unpleasantly as Jaehyun carefully lays out his thoughts. It's not like he was keeping anything a secret, but it still feels the way that having someone uncover a secret feels.

"If Mark slept in the other bedroom, he would have left furniture behind when he moved out so quickly. Unless you got rid of it after he left," Jaehyun murmurs. "But I don't think that's what happened."

Jaehyun knows. Johnny's not sure how, but Jaehyun knows.

"I..." Johnny buries his face back into Jaehyun's hair, as if that's going to save him.

"That wasn't Mark's room, was it? It was an extra room."

Johnny is silent, just letting Jaehyun say what he thinks.

"And your room...was yours and Mark’s. He wasn’t just your roommate."

Jaehyun picks up Johnny's hand from where it lays on the mattress, and plays with Johnny's fingers gently, as though he's not even thinking about it.

"It's fine. I'm not saying it like it's a bad thing. I just...I think I understand why it upsets you when I talk about him. And when Taeyong mentioned him the other day...you were so angry," Jaehyun settles back against Johnny a little bit more. "I'm sorry I didn't put it together faster. I knew you were hiding something. I just didn’t think it was something like that."

"Not hiding," Johnny says, "Just..."

"You can't hide that shit from me. You might be a super genius with robots and stuff, but you're really dumb about people," Jaehyun says, still so gentle and kind even though his words bite a little. "Don't worry."

Johnny doesn't exactly know what he means by that, but he knows that Jaehyun is a very, very observant person. He wonders what other little social signals he's putting out without even knowing it, things that Jaehyun is picking up on. But as far as his discomfort with the way Mark disappeared on him...with Mark being a sensitive topic because...well...

Jaehyun is right. Jaehyun is always right.

\---------------

When Amber comes back, around noon the next day, she's frantic.

She's mussed and tired-looking, but not hurt, as she breezes into The Mirror Room with her backpack looking even more stuffed full than when she left. She also carries a big duffel bag that Johnny recognizes as Jaehyun's swim bag, also looking stuffed to the seams.

Her first words to Johnny and Jaehyun, before even saying hello, are, "We need to break into SM to get those files. As soon as possible."

There are people in the cafe, so Johnny is more than a little surprised that she's just saying things like that out loud. In front of people. Jaehyun takes the gym bag from her gingerly.

Johnny looks at her, bewildered. "We talked about this already. It's a stupid idea. They want Jaehyun and they obviously don't like me very much. So we should probably not do that."

"We have to," Amber insists.

"Why?"

"I have to know what's going on with the NCT class 'droids. I saw their new recruits."

"Recruits?" Jaehyun echoes.

Amber nods. "A bunch of kids. They weren't brand new, cuz some of them already had their first bionics, but they were definitely some of the latest."

"Where did you see them?" Johnny asks, already sure that he knows the answer.

"At SM."

"Why would you go there?"

"I haven't been to SM for years," says Amber. "I never needed to go back. It's risky, anyway. But I went to scope the place, because of what happened to you."

She leans fully against the counter, placing her backpack on the ground by her feet.

"When did their compound get so big?" Amber asks.

Johnny is dumbstruck. "How big was it before?"

"Maybe a third of the size it is now," she says. "The place is enormous. How could nobody notice that they're so big, all of a sudden?"

"Did it really grow that fast?" Johnny asks.

"Last time I was there was three years ago. I couldn't believe it. The place is way too big for what they say they do. No way they need that much space just to develop prostheses, the smaller facility they had when I was there was more than enough."

Jaehyun looks over Amber's shoulder at the patrons sitting in the cafe, the usual teens and couples. They're paying no mind, as far as Johnny can tell, but they're still around. Witnesses. They could overhear something. They could ask inconvenient questions. Johnny kind of hates that they have to be suspicious like that.

"Should we go into the house and talk about this?" Jaehyun asks.

"Fuck no, it's business hours. I had you stay open while I was gone and you ask me a question like that," Amber scoffs. "Here. Just look."

She leans down and roots through her backpack, coming up with a tablet. She switches the device on, and it lights up with a pale purple interface that's neither Windows nor Mac. It must be custom, Johnny realizes, which means she codes software as well as building hardware. Terrifying. Can Amber literally do everything?

"I wear a body cam when I'm on recon missions," Amber says. "And I got...some footage of these kids at the SM labs. Hold on..."

She scrolls through a folder of video files with one impatient finger.

"Here. They’re so the company’s type, it’s almost stupid. Young, pretty airheads."

She plays them a grainy clip of what Johnny recognizes immediately as the outside of one of the SM lab buildings, deep in the compound. There are four young men, maybe late teenage or early 20s, outside one of the bay doors, waiting as a lab tech scans them into the building one by one. The footage isn't great quality, but Amber zooms in, and they can make out the distinct faces.

The first is dainty and catlike, with shocking silver-white hair. He's followed by a boy with a gorgeous sharp face and wavy black hair, and then a boy with brown hair and young elfish features.

And the last -

Him. That guy from yesterday.

Lucas.

Yukhei.

"Wait," says Jaehyun, leaning in closer to the tablet and tapping it to pause the video, "Isn't that..."

"He was..." Johnny glances between Amber and Jaehyun, "But he was so normal!"

Amber waves her hand as if to clear the air. "Whoa, hold on. You know him, too?"

"He came into the cafe yesterday," Johnny says. "His name is Yukhei."

"One of the recruits was _here?_ " Amber repeats, horrified.

Johnny's still bemused. "His arm. He told me it was broken. It was all bandaged up, in a sling."

"Jesus fuck, Johnny," Amber moans, "He's mid-android-conversion. He probably had a brand-new bionic under there."

"But he was so _normal_ ," Johnny protests.

Jaehyun, for his part, looks serious. "Did they send him to scope out the place or something?"

"I don't know why they would," says Amber. "Like I said, SM doesn't really care about me. They don't know where I live, I make damn sure of that."

"He didn't do anything weird while he was here," says Johnny. "He had a coffee and he left."

"I'll check it out anyway."

Amber leaves her tablet there on the counter, still paused on a pixelated image of that kid, Yukhei. She tosses an apron around her waist and knots it on quickly, and snatches a rag from near the sink. Then, she walks into the dining area and begins shifting the empty tables and chairs around, as if she's looking for something. Every few moments, she'll wipe down a tabletop to appear busy.

Another group of customers comes in, and Johnny's attention is stolen by the work he's supposed to be doing. He still keeps an eye on Amber as she checks over the rest of the dining room, and then as she goes to the back to check the CCTV in the cafe. Johnny talks to the patrons and Jaehyun makes his perfect lattes.

Routine.

"Nothing," Amber reports, after the final coffees of that round are delivered to the waiting teens at their corner table.

"Nothing?" Jaehyun repeats.

"Not a single weird thing," says Amber.

"I told you," says Johnny.

Amber looks ruffled. "It seems like this kid, fresh from a bionics surgery at a company that has literally employed, harassed, and mauled all three of us, respectively, just genuinely came in here for a coffee."

For whatever reason, this is the thing that really seems to impact Jaehyun. Johnny watches as his face fills with sorrow and pity, and then as he seemingly steels himself. It’s kind of incredible to see, how Jaehyun transforms sadness into determination so quickly, and how openly he displays it. Jaehyun ducks back behind the register for his duffel bag, and fixes Amber with a look.

"Can you give us a minute to unpack?" he asks her, "Then we'll be back to help you."

"Yeah, of course," says Amber, seeming surprised at the intensity in his voice.

"Thanks."

Jaehyun takes Johnny by the arm, and hauls him out the back door and across the walk to Amber's house, duffel bag slung over his shoulder. When they're inside, back in the guest room, Jaehyun opens the bag and starts unpacking clothes, shoes, toiletries, bits of technology. Johnny's laptop rig. Jaehyun's school supplies.

"I think we should do what Amber says," Jaehyun announces suddenly.

Johnny blinks at him. "And that would be..."

"We should help her break into SM for the files she wants."

"Not to point fingers, Jae, but you're the one who said literally _yesterday_ that you didn't even want to go back to your own house," Johnny says.

"Well, I changed my mind."

"Why?"

Jaehyun pauses where he's sorting clothes into two piles, his and Johnny's, and just stares at Johnny for a moment.

"Because," says Jaehyun. "Because of that kid."

“Yukhei?”

“Yeah.”

"What does Yukhei have to do with any of this?" asks Johnny, incredulous.

“It’s not him, specifically. It’s the principle of it all. It’s the stuff that’s happening to him,” says Jaehyun, frustrated.

Johnny cannot fathom where this is coming from. “Jae, we don’t even know him. I talked to him for maybe fifteen minutes, total.”

"I know it's stupid. But…just think about it. It’s not just about that kid, either,” insists Jaehyung. “Look. We know something was really wrong with your friends, right?"

"...Right," Johnny agrees weakly.

"And with your work friend, what's his name? That you saw at the office?"

"Yuta."

"Him. Him and the others, it wasn't just their bodies that were changed, like Amber. It's awful what happened to her, but she's still Amber. Her mind is the same, even though SM changed her body so much."

Johnny can see what Jaehyun means. He nods. "Right."

"But Yukhei, he seemed perfectly normal. Not...weird, like the others. I know you know what I'm talking about," Jaehyun says, and his tone is so incensed that Johnny wonders if this is just a panic attack in a different form.

"He was just a normal kid," Johnny agrees.

"I think they're doing something else to these people's minds, not just their bodies," says Jaehyun. "If we can figure out what, and how, then we can..."

"Stop it?" Johnny finishes for him. "That's insane. You know that's insane."

"I know it is," says Jaehyun.

"But you still want to."

"But I still want to."

Johnny looks at Jaehyun, really looks. His roommate is folding t-shirts and jeans like they've personally offended him, with an intensity that would be better suited to playing a strategy game, or killing a spider.

It’s true that Johnny knows more about robots that Jaehyun. Infinitely more about bionics, and about SM itself. Between the two of them, Johnny stands a much better chance of defending himself against whatever is happening, based solely on prior knowledge. But Jaehyun has hit on a point that Johnny never even considered. He can admit that to himself – that Jaehyun, so observant, so incredibly people-smart, has realized something that might be a big deal.

Amber’s mind is still her own. Ten and Taeyong’s minds don’t seem to be, anymore. 

Somewhere along the way, at some point in the android process, autonomy is taken away. Personality is erased. Like how Yuta was just a caricature of himself, like how Taeyong was unrecognizably cold and mean. Not just the body, but the mind.

"If you're serious," Johnny says, finally, "And you really want to go, then we can tell Amber, and she can make a plan. And we’ll all go together."

"You would do that?" Jaehyun asks.

"Of course."

"Just because I want to?"

"I can't let you go do something stupid like breaking into my old work, which is full of people who ostensibly want to mutilate you and turn into into a cyborg, by yourself," Johnny says plainly. "It's my job to protect you."

Jaehyun hums, seeming amused. "And why is that?"

"Because you asked me to. That night...after I caught up with you. In the park. You asked me to help you."

Apparently, Jaehyun had forgotten that conversation, because his face turns that fierce blush pink. He busies himself even more intently with the clothes in front of him, determined, it seems, not to meet Johnny's eye.

"You have no sense of self-preservation, do you?" Jaehyun says.

"You're one to talk."

"I really think we should do this. At the very least, to help your friends," Jaehyun says. "They're hurting, aren't they? They've been hurting."

Johnny is suddenly reminded of his nightmares, the echoes of Taeyong and Ten (and Mark) calling for help, of running through white hallways unable to find them. All of this, the androids, his friends going missing...it's all connected. Ten and Taeyong...might have been calling him for real. They were being tortured, turned into monsters.

Were they reaching out to him?

"I think they are," Johnny agrees, slowly. “I think they’ve been hurting for a while now.”

"Shouldn't we try to help them?" Jaehyun asks gently.

It's an obvious answer, when it's put into perspective like that. Johnny meets Jaehyun's eye with his best, most insufferable smirk.

"Yeah. We should. Bring it on."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I asked you a question last time, so I'll ask another here. Who do you think is my NCT 127 bias? How bout my WayV bias??? EXO bias??? Red Velvet bias??? Am I even JohnJae biased??? I might not be. I wanna see what you think based off my fics jhfghg


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lotus can recover. A lotus isn't stopped or slowed down by anything. Rain rolls right off its petals. A flower that grows in muddy water, transforming filth into something beautiful.
> 
> I want you to be like that too, Johnny. Perfect. Like the rest of them.
> 
> (SM Entertainment Android AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We meet two very important people in this chapter. Things pick up. Hold onto your tiddies, folks.

"So you're saying I'm going to be robot bait."

Jaehyun doesn't seem mad about it. He says it with an air of curiosity, maybe a little bit of amusement. His quiet acceptance blows Johnny away, the way it always does. He's so steadfast, so ready to accept things as they are and move forward. It's a kind of mental fortitude that Johnny doesn't think he's ever seen before.

Jaehyun is really one of a kind, isn’t he?

"Now, that's a really crude way to say it," Amber protests, "It’s not like you’re just out there as bait, with no backup. You'd have us watching out. I'd track your location and everything. We'd be right behind you."

"I know," Jaehyun agrees.

"You would just have to be brave for an hour, maybe. Hopefully less. Keep it together and we'll come for you," says Amber.

Jaehyun holds up a hand as if to defer. "Oh, no, no, I know. I'm okay being robot bait. That's fine, I'll do it."

"You don't have to," adds Johnny, "You really don't have to. If you don't wanna."

"It's okay," says Jaehyun.

"It's just gonna exacerbate the trauma you already have about the robots and the kidnapping and shit," Johnny says bluntly. "I know that you're not perfectly comfortable with all this, no matter what you want us to believe, because you're a rational person, but-"

"Johnny," Jaehyun smiles almost sadly, "Look, when this is all over, I will find a very patient and accepting therapist out there somewhere, who won't judge my robot stories. And I will work through all of this."

Johnny looks at him imploringly. "I'm serious, you're probably going to develop PTSD over all this."

"That would not surprise me," Jaehyun agrees. "But we need to do this, don't we?"

Amber nods.

"Then afterwards, I'll take care of me. And for now I'll keep my head together and do what I have to do to help," says Jaehyun.

The plan is a good plan.

Objectively, Johnny doesn't much like it, because it involves Jung Jaehyun being put in very real, very visceral danger, while Johnny stands by and watches. There are too many variables, too many places where things can go wrong and people can get hurt. But considering it's a plan to steal a top-secret file from a tech lab that makes illegal human-robot hybrids with secret bionic technology, it's a pretty good plan.

Jaehyun will simulate his usual daily routine, just for as long as it takes to get the attention of the SM androids. Go to work, to school. Whatever it takes. Eventually, someone, probably Ten and Taeyong if the past attempts are any indication, will show up again to take him away.

"It probably won't take long," Amber had guessed. "Most likely, they're watching out for him anyway. As soon as he's out in the world again, they'll come. I'm sure they have eyes all over, just waiting for something like this to happen."

Back in the moment, Johnny's still just gazing at Jaehyun in mild concern, as Amber fiddles with several small pieces of tech that she has splayed out among the three of them, on the kitchen table. They're miniature GPS trackers, she'd explained, the subcutaneous microchip kind that are used to track pets in case they run away, or put on wild animals for data collection.

"I think I can get this down from its original size to about a centimeter. Maybe half a centimeter," Amber says, holding up one of the already-miniscule trackers.

"That's tiny," marvels Jaehyun.

Amber nods, "If I can make it that tiny, then we can plant it in your mouth."

"Ew."

"No, it's got to be that way. If I attach it to your tooth, it'll just look like a metal filling. Hopefully the moisture inside your mouth will keep the SM techs from finding it too quickly," says Amber.

Jaehyun looks dubious, for the first time. "As long as you can get it off. I don't want a permanent tracker in me."

"I can use a semi-permanent epoxy that has a solution," Amber soothes him. "Like the stuff orthodontists use to put braces on people's teeth. It'll come off if I apply the solution to it."

"If you're sure."

"Alright, so Jaehyun is bait," Johnny says, "And me?"

Amber glances at him. "You'd come with me. Duh."

"To find that file?"

"We can track Jaehyun's location, follow him to SM, make sure we don't lose him. And then we can go into the management offices on the compound and find the NCT files," says Amber.

"Do you know where they'd keep something like that?" asks Jaehyun.

“I wouldn’t suggest the plan if I didn’t,” Amber nods. "There's one person who would have all of that stuff on file. Probably has notes on everything from the last fifteen years of the company."

"Who's that?" Johnny asks, certain that Amber would tell them even if he didn't ask.

"The main brain behind everything at that company. The shadow genius of SM Ent," Amber says. "Lee Taemin."

"I have never heard of him," says Johnny.

It's strange that Johnny wouldn't have known someone so important, he thinks. He doesn't remember that name on any of the walls of photos, or in any literature about the company, can’t picture a face to go with the name. There's a few Lees in the company but no Taemins, that he can recall.

"That's because he wasn't exactly working on the front end of things," says Amber.

"What does that mean?"

Amber shrugs. "At first, he did a lot of what you did at the company, actually. Development and prosthetic testing and stuff. But he was...well..."

"Oh, God," says Jaehyun, and Johnny can guess why.

"He was the original E.E. class volunteer," Amber confirms. "He was the very first one to get bionic enhancements, the whole mad scientist. He was a head prosthetics researcher and then he wanted to see what that tech could do on himself."

"And I basically replaced him," Johnny says, repulsed.

"Kind of. He's a clever and nasty son of a bitch, absolutely brutal. But he’s the absolute best in the world when it comes to applied robotics. He was there for all of our bionics surgeries, supervising and giving pointers."

Jaehyun looks as disgusted as Johnny feels, and Amber seems quietly apologetic.

"We'll have to keep an eye out for him," she says. "I think he's gonna be wherever they take Jaehyun, like, if they have him in the labs then Taemin will be there. But that means he won't be in his office. We have to count on that."

"And if he's in the office?" Johnny asks.

"If he's there, you have to run interference," Amber says.

"Me?" Johnny asks, perturbed.

"He probably knows who you are. If you distract him, I can get into the office. Okay?"

This is exactly what Johnny means. There are so many moving parts. A mad scientist who's now a super-powered android. Friends to worry about. Getting into and out of a building full of androids who could easily rip them apart into very small pieces and put them back together in a different order.

"Sounds terrible," Johnny says. "Let's do it."

And just like that, they have a plan.

It takes a couple of days to get everything ready.

They gather supplies to bring with, some things that Amber already owned, and some things that she and Johnny tweak to make more portable, more compact.

They also research the SM compound and make maps of it. Johnny has most of the layout memorized from his time there but a good chunk of it, including the parts where most of the bionics work happens, is the part that he's never visited. It's grown a lot since Amber's time, and Jaehyun's only been there in the dead of night, so they all have to learn the general layout of the parts they’re going to break into.

It takes a few more days to develop and implant the tiny tracking device. Amber welds and prods and shaves the tiny transmitter into a half-centimeter bit of nanotech, and attaches it to one of Jaehyun's back top molars using soluable dental epoxy. She synchs it up to her phone’s GPS system, and after a few tests, she can track the tiny signal.

But when they're ready, they're truly ready.

They set out from Amber's house on a warm Wednesday afternoon. Amber has her backpack, stuffed with the LRAD she used back at Johnny and Jaehyun's apartment, a popup Faraday cage, and what Johnny vaguely recognizes as a taser.

Johnny carries a shoulder bag with printed copies of his resume and a letter of recommendation that needs to be signed by a prior supervisor. That's his deep cover; if he's alone and he’s caught on premises, he can claim that he was looking for a management team member to sign his forms. Johnny thinks it's a bit of a weak cover, but it's better than nothing.

And Jaehyun is just Jaehyun. He has a canvas bag and a water bottle, casual enough to look ready for school or work.

"You're absolutely sure you want to do this?" Johnny asks Jaehyun, as Amber locks down her house for their absence.

Jaehyun looks at him, face set firmly. "Yes. I'm sure."

"Okay."

\---------------

Jaehyun goes out alone.

Darkness has fallen as they settle into their trap. It's late evening, and a light, drizzly rain is dousing the neighborhood around Jaehyun's college campus. Konkuk University isn't very big, and the weather isn’t great, but the area is still alive with students and families going to dinner and commuters on their way home.

Amber and Johnny follow Jaehyun from a short distance away, cuddled awkwardly together under a large black umbrella. But instead of the normal umbrella scaffolding, they've jammed the popup Faraday cage under the vinyl surface. Hopefully, it'll keep the SM androids from discovering them, blocking out any radio signals or GPS taps that might be looking for Amber's biotech signal or scanning for Johnny's distinct tall form. If they even care to know where Johnny is, which Johnny doubts.

They're following as Jaehyun makes his usual walk from the campus to the coffeeshop where he works. He makes it one block, then two, then five, with nothing out of the ordinary.

And then, just as the obnoxious yellow front of the local Angelinus coffee house looms ahead, there’s a voice from a narrow alley, silky and light.

"Well, hi, baby."

It's Ten.

Ten and Taeyong, because of course it is. They don't seem to notice Johnny and Amber underneath their umbrella, lingering under the eaves of a nearby shop. As if they're assigned to Jaehyun (and they probably are, honestly), Ten and Taeyong are here again.

They scoop him up as easily as a person would pick up a wayward kitten. Ten holds Jaehyun bridal-style, supporting his back and his legs, and it would look really stupid in any other circumstance. It doesn't look stupid, not to Johnny, because Jaehyun is pretty tall and Ten is very petite and the ease with which such a small person is hoisting around such a big one is very, very unnerving.

A long, sleek black car pulls up to the curb, ridiculous in its pointed surreptitiousness, and Ten eases Jaehyun into it as though he weighs nothing at all. The androids climb in after him, and they pull away from the curb.

Quick as that, Jaehyun is gone.

Johnny's chest aches as he imagines all the times this has happened before. Jaehyun, just getting plucked off the street or out of his own bed by these two superhuman beings that used to be Johnny's best friends. It happened probably a half dozen times without Johnny even knowing.

And now, this time, Johnny is watching but he can’t do anything about it. He has to watch Jaehyun be whisked away, right in front of him.

That’s the plan.

"Come on. We have to be fast," Amber says, as the black car merges into traffic and vanishes. "If we're too slow they might start in on Jaehyun, and who knows what will happen after that."

That is probably the most motivating thing she could've said, as well as the most terrifying. Johnny nods his assent.

Amber puts down their Faraday umbrella bastardization, letting the gentle rain fall right onto them instead, and hails one of the dozens of cabs that weave through the traffic beside them. The driver, an older man with silver hair and eyeglasses, is nice enough when Amber starts giving him directions. She pushes her phone into Johnny's hands, and he takes over monitoring the tiny blip on her custom-programmed pale purple navigation app that represents Jaehyun's GPS tracker.

"Are they on track?" Amber asks.

The little signal is flashing smoothly away from them, out of Gwangjin-gu and toward Seochu-gu.

"Yeah," Johnny murmurs back.

As predicted, the androids are taking Jaehyun toward the SM headquarters.

"Nervous?" Amber asks.

"Yes."

"Don't be," she instructs, "I know that's easier said than done but we have to go in like we know more than they do. We're in control. We got this."

Johnny sighs. "They just don't like me, do they?"

Amber fixes him with a look. "I actually don't think that's the case."

"What?"

"I think they actually really like you. That's the problem."

"That's crazy," says Johnny.

"Oh, come on. The way you described Baekhyun talking to you? And Joy and everyone? They don't hate you, man, they're really interested in you," says Amber.

That's worse. That's definitely worse. It's not really a reassuring thing to ponder over as the cab drives them through Gangnam and south, closer to the labs.

"Easy in, easy out," Amber says, as their driver brings them farther into the foothills, past the neighborhood where Johnny and Jaehyun's apartment stands empty.

Odd to think that all of their stuff is back there. Their furniture, their clothes. The normal lives they used to have, before they knew anything about androids or SM Ent. and the things that happen there. It's been barely ten days since they were at home last, but Johnny can't foresee getting to go back home any time soon.

"Easy in, easy out," Johnny repeats.

Amber nods. "We can do it."

They can do it. Jaehyun will be okay.

They get out of the cab on the side of the complex, on a dark stretch of sidewalk across from a strip mall. The high chain-link fence that surrounds the SM compound is daunting, in front of Johnny, as Amber pays the cabbie and send him on his way.

"Cameras?" Amber mutters, mostly to herself. "I didn't see any before but..."

"I've never seen cameras on their property," says Johnny. "Except in the meeting rooms and public spaces."

"Probably because they don't want any evidence of the stuff they do. Especially back here," Amber replies. "I bet the fence by itself is enough deterrence for the local kids."

Without another word, Amber kneels, grabs Johnny around the shin, and hoists him up and over the fence, his stomach meeting the top of the chain link.

"Jesus fuck!" Johnny yelps, scrambling the rest of the way over on his own, "Warn a guy before you do that shit!"

He lands heavily inside the fence line, and Amber vaults over the fence herself like an Olympic athlete, the hydraulics in her legs whirring as she catches herself neatly. Johnny rubs his poor abused middle, muttering under his breath.

"Sorry. But shut up," Amber hisses.

Amber's got her phone in hand again, and they follow the blinking dot that is Jaehyun's tooth through the dark hulking warehouses and garages that make up the SM complex. It's a maze in the dark, and after they've rounded a few corners, Johnny's lost. He's never been this far back into the complex before. He’ll be no help getting them back out, either, the buildings blurring together in his head as the move deeper and deeper.

Finally, they stop. Jaehyun's right in front of them, according to the tracker.

It's a brand-new building, gleaming silver metal walls and enormous bay doors that remind Johnny of a commercial airline hangar. It’s so long and deep, Johnny can’t even tell where it ends, the walls just extending into the drizzly darkness. They don't have any other buildings that look quite like that.

Amber looks grim. "This is the part of the place I was in last time, when I saw those kids. Taemin's office is in that building."

She points at a different building across the way from the hangar, a multi-story office building that is deceptively normal. It looks like a million other small offices in Seoul, and somehow that's even creepier than the enormous sheet metal warehouse. Normalcy like that, in the midst of all this.

"We have to get in there," says Amber. "It shouldn't be too hard because it's an admin building. I would expect more security on the labs, where the assets are."

The assets. Horrible way to refer to the people that are trapped in there, being mutilated for science.

"We can just try the door," Johnny says.

"That seems too-"

Amber cuts herself off, tensing.

"Voices," she says, tugging Johnny into the shadow of the building.

Johnny doesn't think they're all that hidden, just ducking behind the corner of the warehouse, but Amber is simply watching as two figures come from the direction of the office building. They pass by the place where Johnny and Amber hide in plain sight, and stand at the bay doors.

With a seamless, near silent electronic hum, the bay doors open. They're so quiet, it's unnerving. Johnny wonders what perfectly-balanced mechanism is opening them, what they've developed that doesn't buzz and grind like a normal set of doors.

The two men just stand there, leisurely, murmuring to each other, as the doors open for them. It's hard to see them clearly in the low light, but as a bright bluish LED glow pours in from the warehouse, he can make out their features a little bit better. One man is tall with dark hair and a rich deep voice that Johnny can almost hear over the soft sound of the door. The other is shorter, slimmer, with a light honey-sweet voice.

"Taemin," Amber whispers, as if she’s reading his mind. "The smaller one. And that other one sounds like Jongin."

The doors still, fully open, lighting the whole plaza, and the two men walk inside. It's too dark and too sharp of an angle for Johnny to see where they've gone without moving, and it's too risky to move. He has to be content with eavesdropping, for now.

"I've definitely never met either of them," Johnny murmurs.

"Good," says Amber darkly. "At least we know Taemin is out of his office right now. Come on, let’s-"

Johnny's barely listening as she keeps talking, too busy focusing on what he can hear from inside. He creeps a little closer to the doorway, careful to keep his face out of the light. He can hear that honey-sweet voice, Taemin's voice, mumbling pleasantries.

And then, clearly, loudly, "Oh, welcome back, my little shining star!"

There's a deep laugh, probably from that other guy, Jongin. The chatter in the warehouse betrays that it's not just the two of them. Whatever is happening has an audience.

"I've missed your pretty face these last few weeks," says Taemin, "Where have you been, darling?"

Jaehyun's voice spits back, "Fuck you."

"Oh," Taemin's silky voice is twisted with a laugh. "Oh, he got an attitude while he was away. Who taught you all that? What happened to your lovely begging, hm?"

"Burn in hell," hisses Jaehyun.

"Burn in hell, _hyungnim,_ " Taemin corrects.

Johnny can only hear his voice, can't even see him, but he seethes. He doesn't even hate Taemin, he _loathes_ him.

"Pity you've gotten that mouth, I'd hate to have to muzzle you," Taemin pauses, humming, "Well, actually, that might be kind of fun. Ten really enjoys that sort of thing, don't you, baby boy?"

Johnny almost gags, and Amber starts dragging him backwards away from the door.

"Okay, that's enough of that," Amber says.

"You heard him-"

"You need to fucking focus, or we're both gonna get killed, and Jaehyun's gonna get ripped into pieces. Is that what you want?"

Johnny takes a long, slow breath. "No."

"That's what I thought."

"No, fuck," Johnny turns fully away from the doors. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Just. We have a mission to do, okay?"

On Amber's phone, Jaehyun's tracking dot is stationary inside the warehouse, and there's no loud noise or anything. At least for now, it seems okay to leave Jaehyun there, if the worst they're going to do is banter at him.

Behind them, the office building looms large and silent. They break for it.

The door is unguarded and opens when Amber pulls on the handle - _I don't have fingerprints, Johnny, so don't fucking touch anything, let me do it._ They can go right in, which is terribly creepy in its own right. No one is there. Even the receptionist's desk, a heavy wooden thing in front of a wall of old-fashioned wood mailbox slots, is empty.

"Let me just..." Amber murmurs, ducking behind the desk.

She comes up with a few sheets of printer paper, stapled together, and flips until she finds what she's looking for.

"Second floor, room 216," she says, triumphant.

"How come you just know everything?” Johnny complains mildly.

Amber grins. "Office directory, idiot."

They climb the stairs up to the second floor. Every office they pass is empty, all the lights off except for the motion-activated hallway lights that turn on and then slowly off as they go down the hall. Taemin's office door, number 216, is wide open when they find it, and they walk right in. The whole place is so empty that Johnny's actually suspicious. What kind of top-secret lab keeps its administrative wing completely unguarded and open?

"Are there cameras in here?" he asks.

Amber scans the room for a moment, squinting at corners and nooks. "I don't think so. I don't see any."

She's booting up the desktop computer, leaning urgently over the device as it happily whirs to life. The desk, Johnny notices, is completely void of personal effects, save one photograph of five men. Johnny recognizes a round-cheeked, much-younger Taemin in the center. He files away the memory of it, recalling that Taemin himself is an E.E. android, and that he had a team, at one point.

When the login screen pops up on the computer, Amber swings her backpack off her shoulder and rifles around inside it until she comes up with a flash drive. It's taped over with duct tape in the same pale purple color as her custom user interface, with a little smiley face drawn in black marker. She jams the drive into the computer, and the screen flashes over in that same lilac. The login is overridden. She's in.

"What the fuck is that thing?" Johnny asks her, staring at the tiny drive.

"You ever heard of a kill drive?"

"Yeah but...don't those things just fry a computer? Like kill the hard drive?" Johnny says. "Hence the name?"

"Yep," Amber agrees. "But like I do with most stupid public tech, I made it work better. This one just kills the security system, wipes the firewall. Memory stays intact."

She yanks out the kill drive and replaces it with another, regular USB drive.

"Keep watch," she instructs, "This is the easy part."

So Johnny does. He goes over to the door, and hovers out of sight, listening down the hall for any sounds of motion. The lights stay off.

For a long while, there's nothing except the tap of Amber's fingers on the computer keys, and her low voice muttering as she searches through Taemin's files.

Finally, Amber lets out a breathless "Gotcha!"

Johnny turns to look at her, and she’s grinning maniacally.

"Okay, found it," Amber says. "It's a fucking huge file, gonna take a little while to copy. Hol' on for just a second."

Of course, that's the moment that Johnny hears footsteps.

It's the gentle clacking sound of men’s dress shoes on the wood floor. The automatic motion lights at the end of the hall turn on, casting a faint glow down the length of the hall, and then immediately off.

"Amber, someone's coming," Johnny whispers.

"Fuck," she curses. "I need like thirty more seconds, John. How close are they?"

The clicking doesn't stop. No, it's getting closer, even though the hallway lights aren't turning on. Whoever it is, they’re keeping Johnny and Amber in the dark, literally. There's no chance of getting past whomever it is and escaping. They’re stuck where they are.

So Johnny bolts for Amber, pulling her down to crouch with him behind Taemin's desk. They're out of sight, but the computer is still on, chugging along cheerfully as it copies the file over. Hopefully it’s just a regular security guard, someone who will just check the room and then move on.

The shoes click-clack up to the door, and into the room. And then they stop.

There's silence.

Horrible, long, painful silence.

And then a voice.

One that Johnny knows so, so well. Hearing it is like having the wind knocked out of him, like a swift kick to the stomach. He nearly chokes on air, gasping in far too loudly when he hears it, feels it in his bones.

"Name and ID number."

The voice is flat and dead, no lilt, no emotion.

But it's him.

Mark.

It's Mark, and Johnny is about to start weeping under the desk because no. Not him. Not here. Anyone but him.

Amber is hissing at him not to move, not to make any more noise, but Johnny looks at her and something in his face makes her stop in her tracks. He stands up.

It's Mark.

It was Mark, anyway. In the same way that Ten and Taeyong aren't themselves, this is not Mark. What Taeyong said, back in the apartment, about Mark missing him, that wasn't a throwaway line to hurt Johnny. That was fact.

Mark is here, and he's one of them.

He's blonde, his hair a perfectly-coiffed halo around his face, almost brushing his prominent cheekbones on the sides. His face is pristine and perfect, brows a dark slash on his flawless skin. He’s dressed effortlessly in business casual, t-shirt and slacks and a collarless blazer with polished dress shoes. But most striking are his eyes. His eyes are empty. No recognition, just cold intelligence.

He repeats, "Name and ID number."

Johnny doesn't know when he started crying, but he dumbly registers the wetness on his cheeks as he says, "Mark. It's me. It's Johnny-hyung."

Mark blinks at him once. And then Johnny understands what’s going on.

Mark does not recognize him.

And then he nods, once. "John Suh. Identity confirmed."

He tilts his head to the side curiously, like a little kid, a gesture that is so firmly Mark that it makes Johnny ache. His face is still so blank and cold.

Mark blinks, one more time. "You're not supposed to be here."

" _Mark_ ," Johnny gasps, and his voice is so mangled that he barely recognizes it as his own. "Marky, God, I'm so _sorry_."

But Mark just regards him. "Directive not recognized. John Suh, you need to leave.

He speaks in the strangest mix of classic, stereotypical robot-speak and normal conversational pacing, as if someone programmed him to sound like a robot and then reconsidered and let some of his normal speech bleed through.

"God, Mark, I'm so sorry," Johnny is sobbing, "I didn't know - I could have helped you...I'm so-"

Johnny can feel the brush of her shirt against his leg as Amber inches up from behind the computer desk. As soon as her head clears the desk, as soon as Mark catches sight of her, he lunges across the room in a flash of blonde, moving like a film reel set in fast-forward. Johnny barely sees it happen, as Mark slams Amber up against the wall behind them. He's holding her fast by the throat.

"Amber Liu. Number 920918. Rogue operative," Mark says, glaring down at her.

Amber chokes, trying to pry Mark's hand off her neck. He's not much bigger than her, but she can't move him at all, and that seems to shock her. She meets Johnny's eye desperately, clawing at Mark's hand, writhing in his grip.

Johnny runs to them before he can think about it. He grabs Mark's arm, trying fruitlessly to tug his hand away from Amber.

His blank face marred just slightly with astonishment, Mark looks down at where Johnny is touching him. He looks up, just as slowly, to meet Johnny's eye. It's as if no one has ever touched him before. And, Johnny realizes, in this state, as an android, it is very likely that no human ever has.

Mark drops Amber, and she collapses to the floor, gasping, as he turns instead on Johnny. His face is curious but dark as he backs Johnny across the room. Johnny is much taller and bigger, but he inches backwards, keeping his distance, as this cold predator that was once Mark follows him, those polished shoes clicking as he goes.

Things happen nearly too fast for Johnny to remember, after that.

Amber dives for her backpack, pulling out the bulky black LRAD speaker. She switches it on, pointed at Mark, and even as Johnny doubts, it works. Mark drops to the floor as the sound waves pulse over them, tugging at Johnny's chest the way deep bass at a concert does.

Johnny yells, Mark's name ripping its way out of his throat before he can stop it.

Amber swipes her USB from the computer, grabs Johnny firmly by the shoulder, and runs.

She's practically dragging him out of the office, down the stairs, around the corner. They pass a very confused-looking young woman at the front desk, who only has time to look after them in alarm as they run out the door, Amber moving with her superhuman speed and Johnny doing his best not to fall flat on his face as she forces him along.

No one is chasing them.

They make it to the side fence, the same place that they came in, and Amber all but throws Johnny over the top of the fence. He lowers himself to the ground, waiting for Amber, but she doesn't come.

He turns to see her still on the other side of the fence, and rasps, "What are you doing?!"

"I have to go back for Jaehyun," she pants.

Jaehyun.

Fuck.

_Fuck._

In his panic, in his terror, seeing Mark...

Johnny forgot about Jaehyun.

"Hail us a cab, I'll go back for Jaehyun," Amber says.

Johnny clutches at the chain link, "I'll go too-"

"You are in no shape to help," Amber orders. "HAIL. US. A CAB. I’ll go back for-"

"I promised him!" Johnny argues, feeling fresh tears brim in his eyes.

"John. Listen to what I'm saying. I will go-"

She doesn't finish. A figure approaches them, moving at the superspeed that only androids can reach. The fence beside Johnny's hand splits open like it's been sliced, like someone cutting through pudding with a spoon. And through the hole pops Jaehyun.

He's followed by a slightly shorter man with a very familiar face.

"No fucking way," says Amber.

"Hey, Jaehyunnie here says you two were meant to collect him. What's with the delay?" the man smirks.

Amber's mouth is nearly hanging open. "Yixing?"

"I'm surprised at you, Amber, you're usually punctual."

"What were YOU doing in there?" Amber asks, punching the man on the shoulder.

This man, Yixing, shrugs carelessly. "I was investigating a lead I got on our favorite old haunt. And along the way, my old dear friend Jongin stopped me for a chat. He’s got awful manners now, God knows what Taemin’s taught him.

“Wait,” Johnny says softly, “Wait, isn’t he…”

Yixing regards Johnny with no small amount of concern. “What are you three doing here?"

"A little investigating of our own," Amber says, turning to Jaehyun, "Jae, I am so sorry. We ran into trouble, I was just about to-"

"No worries," says Jaehyun, looking a little ruffled but largely alright. "Yixing-hyung got me out, let's just go."

Johnny, for his part, can feel himself slipping into a numb void of adrenaline drop. He was supposed to save Jaehyun. He promised he would take care of Jaehyun. And he was so thrown out of sorts by seeing Mark that he forgot Jaehyun _even existed_.

He wonders when Jaehyun decided they were close enough to call Yixing ‘hyung.’ He wonders if Jaehyun was afraid, if he thought Johnny had abandoned him.

If he knew that Johnny had forgotten him. If it’s written across Johnny’s face, if it’s as obvious as it seems.

"Jaehyunnie told me you guys have a Faraday cage?" Yixing says, oblivious to Johnny’s internal struggle.

"Yeah," Amber says.

"Pop that thing open and let's go. We can't stay in Seoul. When Taemin comes to, he's gonna be after us. Especially me, since, you know. I kicked his ass,” Yixing takes a moment to look proud of himself. “We gotta go."

"Go where?" Jaehyun asks.

Yixing grins again, that sneaky little grin. "Well, to my house, of course. No use leading them to Amber's den after all this."

Casual as anything, Yixing leans into the road, and waves his hand until a cab veers out of the middling traffic.

"Come on," he says, "the faster we go, the sooner we can get on a train."

Johnny dumbly lets Yixing stuff him into a cab. The others pile into the car after him, Jaehyun up front and the two androids in the back with Johnny. Yixing gives the cabbie directions, and Amber is speaking rapidly to Jaehyun.

Johnny swears he can still feel Mark's blank eyes watching him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of you did fuckin amazing guessing my biases (I see you, inhalegalaxies). My EXO bias is indeed Yixing. And my Red Velvet bias is absolutely Wendy. For WayV, half credit, I double bias Lucas and Ten. 
> 
> But...who is my NCT 127 bias??? It's not Johnny or Jaehyun. Keep guessing :P


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lotus can recover. A lotus isn't stopped or slowed down by anything. Rain rolls right off its petals. A flower that grows in muddy water, transforming filth into something beautiful.
> 
> I want you to be like that too, Johnny. Perfect. Like the rest of them.
> 
> (SM Entertainment Android AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, loves~ 
> 
> I'm actually v excited about this chapter, cuz we REALLY start to hit the meat of the plot now. You'd probably laugh if you saw the pages and pages of notes I have for this fic, ya'll. 
> 
> We also relocate briefly to my favorite city in the whole world, Daegu, South Korea. I miss her with a PASSION.

The cab driver takes their little group all the way out of Seoul, on Yixing's directions. They leave the glow of the city proper behind entirely, taking the highway through the foothills and out into the sprawl of Gyeonggi-do. As they pull up to their final destination, some forty minutes later, Johnny can see the name of a station written out in big clean letters, both hangeul and Roman.  
Gwangmyeong Station.

Johnny is quiet as they file into the train station station, even as Amber and Jaehyun talk quietly ahead of him. Casual as anything, Yixing leads them up to the ticket counter, where he buys four KTX rail tickets for the next train to Daegu.

"Daegu?" Amber repeats, as the clerk prints off their tickets.

"Yep," says Yixing.

"Why?"

"I live there."

Amber snorts. "I got that. But _why?_ "

Yixing takes the tickets and thanks the clerk, and then as he leads them away from the counter, he replies, "It's far enough from Seoul that no one bothers me. It's quiet. The nosiest person is my landlord, and he's a sweetheart."

"How long have you been down there?" Amber asks.

"Since I got out."

Johnny can tell that Amber has a million more questions, but she doesn't ask them. She looks incredibly tired. Johnny feels about ten times worse than she looks. Only Jaehyun seems unperturbed, walking along demurely beside Yixing.

That guilt bubbles up again. Johnny had really left Jaehyun behind, at the mercy of androids and evil scientists. He still can’t believe it, can’t fathom how the very idea of Jaehyun had been knocked right out of his head. How does someone forget a close friend like that, forget a promise to protect and help that person no matter what?

"Our train is in like fifteen minutes, we need to go to the platform," Yixing says, as he heads for the escalators that go from the raised-level ticket area to the tracks below. "I'm warning you guys now, I have a one-bedroom apartment, so you'll have to camp out."

"That's fine," says Jaehyun. "We're hiding out, not taking a vacation."

Yixing smiles at him. "You know, that's fair."

"We didn't pack any shit, though," Amber says. "Clothes or toiletries or whatever."

"You can borrow from me," Yixing shrugs, "Or we can go shopping, it doesn't matter to me. I have money."

Amber spares an apologetic glance at Johnny, and at Jaehyun. "I'm sorry I keep doing this to you guys. I didn't think we'd be on the run so much."

The train pulls up just as the reach the platform, and the grating noise of the breaks and the shuddering of the train body makes Johnny's head pound with the threat of a headache. They climb on, looking mildly out of place without any bags at all, and find their seats.

They have four seats at the very center of the train, meaning that they have four seats in pairs on either side of a shared central table, facing each other. There's a brief awkward moment as they try to arrange themselves comfortably, but they end up with Johnny in one window seat and Amber across from him in the other one, with Jaehyun in the aisle seat next to Johnny and Yixing across from him. They talk more on the train, having at least a modicum more of privacy in their strange mid-car seats.

"What were you three really after?" Yixing asks, as the train pulls away from the station.

"Plans," Amber says, "For the next gen of androids."

Yixing hums. "Juicy. Why?"

"Cuz they wanna turn me into one," Jaehyun pipes up.

"Oh," Yixing blinks at him. "Oh. Wow. How do you know that?"

"It's a long fucking story, man," Jaehyun says.

"That's fair," Yixing agrees.

"He was in the lab with you, Xi," Amber says. "Why did you think he was there unless SM dragged him there?"

"I'm not about to judge where the man spends his free time," says Yixing, "But did you get the plans?"

"Sure did," says Amber.

"You can open them up when we get to mine," Yixing says.

"Good idea. I assume you have at least a little bit of security in place."

"I'm not an idiot, of course."

Amber looks at Yixing with no small amount of curiosity. "Wait. Why were you at SM, Xi?"

"Well," he says, slowly, "I saw some of my old friends out and about. Most notably, one Byun Baekhyun. Last I knew, that kid was in the SM dungeon gathering dust and having his circuits eaten through by condensation."

Johnny's been silent this whole time, and he's a little bit grateful to his friends for just keeping the conversation going around him. He really doesn't feel well, and hearing Baekhyun's name again doesn't help. He remembers how surprised Amber was to hear that he was active, remembers that the EXO androids are supposed to be deactivated.

"And I wondered, why the hell is he out?" Yixing continues. "If he had escaped, if he wasn't a brainwashed machine, he might have come looking for me, for help, if nothing else. But nope. He's just plain active again."

"Apparently, he's been up for a long time," Amber says, hazarding a glance at Johnny.

Yixing nods his assent. "I knew something was up when I saw him, so I went back up to Seoul to check things out. But I was sloppy, I didn't bother to cover my biotech signature, and I ran into another one, my old buddy Kim Jongin. He was not happy to see me, to say the least."

He laughs ruefully, and Amber and Jaehyun join him. Johnny doesn't. He can feel the tension break as the three of them laugh together, but he's barely keeping pace with them.

He's spacing out. He can feel that he is, knows he's all but dissociating completely. He's watching Jaehyun out of the corner of his eye, the same thoughts playing on repeat in his mind as he watches his roommate chat and laugh with these two people who have all but adopted him. Sure, Jaehyun looks happy, but there was a very real moment where he could have been hurt…or killed…and it would have been Johnny’s fault.

_He can't believe he just left Jaehyun behind._

"Johnny?" comes Amber's voice, through his fog.

"Huh?" Johnny replies, shaking himself just the tiniest bit.

"You've been pretty quiet," she says.

"I'm just...really tired. That was...kind of a lot, today," Johnny says, and he doesn't even have to fake the exhaustion and stress in his voice.

"Then get some sleep," says Jaehyun. "We'll wake you up when we get there."

"Okay," says Johnny quietly.

He doesn't really want to sleep, but he doesn't want to be in the conversation anymore. He closes his eyes, resolving to pretend to sleep, at least until he really nods off.

After a moment, he hears Jaehyun speaking softly. "What happened back there? To him?"

Amber's voice replies, "We can talk about it later, when he's ready."

For some reason, this fills Johnny with the strangest white-hot fury, a kind of burning annoyance. He hates feeling like he's fragile, like his friends need to tiptoe around him just because he had a tough day.

He lets that feeling surround him, just sort of marinating in his own frustration, until the fluid motion of the train and the hum of passengers puts him to sleep for real.

\---------------

"Come on, sleeping beauty," comes Amber's loud voice, right in Johnny's ear.

He's being shaken firmly by the shoulder, and he peels his eyes open to see Amber leaning over him. People stand in the aisles, leaning on the backs of seats as they wait for the train to stop and the doors to open, and Yixing and Jaehyun have moved to stand beside their own empty seats.

"We gotta go," Amber says.

He eases himself up, out of the deep cushy seat, and they file off the train into Dongdaegu Station. But Johnny's still out of it as they come into the station, still groggy and feeling nothing like himself as Yixing leads them across a wide plaza, a gentle rain still falling even this far south of Seoul. They go underground, around a maze-like department store and across several moving sidewalks, past gleaming white underground shopping plazas to the subway.

Yixing lets them through the turnstiles with a tap of his hand against the turnstile, the way that Amber did for them before. It's that small superhuman action that makes Johnny remember, with some amount of surprise, that, yes. Yixing is also an android.

"You're an EXO, right?" Johnny asks, before his brain can catch up with his mouth and ask with a bit more tact.

Yixing looks amused that Johnny's finally speaking to him. "Yeah. I'm from the EXO class."

"The least favorite child," Amber adds.

"I am now, I guess. Thanks, Amber."

"Don't worry, me too."

They bicker like siblings. It's the way Johnny thinks he and Amber are, too. Close, but easily, platonically so. Comfortable teasing and poking and gentle touches with no motives.

Their subway journey is short, only a few stops long. They get off at a stop called Banwoldang, along with most of the aunties and uncles on the metro with them. Yixing and Jaehyun are chattering away, as they climb the stairs to the street level and emerge at what Johnny thinks must be downtown, skyscrapers rising above them and people wandering in and out of shops, cafes, and bars, enjoying the crisp autumn night.

It's still drizzling as Yixing leads them down streets and around corners. No one has an umbrella, so they're content to be a little bit damp, as Yixing winds around one last corner and comes to a stop in front of a nondescript villa apartment, the same kind of place that Johnny and Jaehyun have back in in Seocho.

"Good thing I have plenty of towels and blankets," Yixing murmurs, as he keys in the passcode and the glass doors slide open for them.

His apartment is small but spotlessly clean, just a small living area, a narrow hallway kitchen, and the bedroom, plus a wet bathroom. His appliances are all gleaming new, and he has a large TV and full entertainment center.

"Your place is nice," Amber says, impressed.

"Thanks," Yixing says cheekily.

"And that's saying something, because my place is also very nice."

Yixing laughs at her. "When I was a teenager, before I was, you know, kidnapped by SM agents in Changsha, I was an actor. So I had a bit of a nest egg back in China that was easy enough to transfer over and fall back on."

The group of them collapse into the room like puppets cut off their strings. Johnny lets himself go limp into Yixing's couch, which after being so on-edge for so long, feels like heaven. Amber slings her backpack off, and digs the USB drive out of her pocket. She kisses the little drive dramatically, holding it up in front of her.

"Is that what you went in there for?" Yixing asks her.

"Yep."

"What's on it?"

Amber grins at the piece of plastic like it's made of gold. "The info I've been looking for."

Yixing gives her a tired thumbs-up as he shrugs off his jacket.

"Oh, by the way, I can't believe you didn't tell me you were living all the way out here! Asshole," Amber says, kicking Yixing in the shin lightly as he passes by her on his way to join Johnny on the couch. "I thought you left Korea! If I knew you were around, I would have broken into SM way sooner!"

"And maybe you could have kept me from being caught," Yixing muses.

Jaehyun falls into the last free spot on the couch, between Yixing and Johnny. "So, do we get to see what's on that drive?"

"Not tonight," Amber decides. "Tonight we're gonna shower, and change, and get some sleep. There's probably a lot of confusing shit on there, and it won't do any good to go over it all distracted and tired."

She looks at Johnny, and Johnny knows what she's getting at. He knows he's not acting like himself, and he certainly doesn't feel like himself. He's distracted, and he's tired, probably more than any of the others.

But he still feels bad when Amber says, "Johnny can have the couch. Is that okay, Jae?"

"Of course," says Jaehyun instantly.

"No," says Johnny, just as quickly, as though he's been shaken awake. "No, Amber, you should take the couch."

"Is that some macho shit? Some ladies-first shit?" Amber asks, tone half-teasing, "Because if it is, you should shove it right back up-"

But she stops.

She glances back and forth between Johnny and Jaehyun, and then she seems to decide on something.

"Well...fine. I guess. Yeah. I do deserve the couch," she says slowly.

Yixing looks puzzled as he says, "One of you can sleep in my bed with me, if you don't want the floor...and if you don’t mind getting my cooties…"

"I'll sleep on the floor with Johnny," Jaehyun agrees easily.

Johnny hates how that instantly sets his frayed nerves at ease, the idea of getting to sleep beside Jaehyun the way he's been doing at Amber's house. He hates that Jaehyun must think that he can't sleep alone. He hates that they all seem to think he's so weak.

But isn't he?

Jaehyun has had such a worse time through all of this. He's the one who's been tortured and kidnapped and then volunteered to go _back_ into that same place to carry out a crazy plan. And Johnny's acting like _he's_ the one who has gone through the worst of it. That's not fair, and Johnny can do better. He can do better.

\---------------

The nightmares come back.

He's back in Taemin's office, that cold soullness office from earlier. But this time, instead of Amber held against the wall by the throat, it's Johnny who's pressed against the wallpaper, Mark's superhuman strength pinning him there as he chokes and tries to pry himself free.

_"Mark-"_

"You replaced me with him," Mark pouts. "That big annoying barista. You always liked pretty boys. But him? He's on another level, hyung."

Mark's other hand dances up to the button on Johnny's jeans, one ice-cold finger just barely brushing over the hem of the denim. It’s a touch that Johnny has felt a hundred times, but this time, he swears he can hear the pistons under Mark’s exoskin, feel the snap and shift of his mechanical joints. It’s painful how inhuman the touch is, now.

"Bet he's big in other ways too, hm? Bigger than me?" Mark laughs again. "Don't worry, hyung. We'll be together again soon."

Mark squeezes his throat tighter, and Johnny can feel his pulse leaping, trying to get oxygen past the blockage, up to his brain. He tries to yell, strains, twists in Mark's grip...

And wakes up really yelling.

There's another person leaning over him instantly, speaking to him gently. He recognizes it as Amber after a split second, her hands moving softly over his face as he thrashes himself awake, trying to get rid of the phantom feeling of the android's super-strong fingers crushing his neck.

"Johnny," Amber says, "Johnny, calm down-"

She's petting him gently, across his cheeks and in his hair, gentle touches like you'd use to calm an animal. It works, too, as he soothes back to reality in a few seconds. But something in his brain registers the situation as strange, and as Amber pulls back, leans back and just combs her fingers through Johnny's hair, he realizes what it is.

It's not Jaehyun comforting him.

Usually, after a nightmare, it's Jaehyun. Jaehyun's figure at his door, Jaehyun's voice reassuring him, watching TV and coming back to reality with Jaehyun. But now...

Johnny looks around, dazed, "Where...Jae..."

Yixing's bedroom room slams shut, the sound of it echoing through the little apartment.

Amber winces. "You were yelling...for Mark. You were yelling his name."

"But..." Johnny blinks hard, trying to gather himself.

"And Jaehyun, he just..."

She trails off, pointing weakly toward Yixing's room.

So, Jaehyun was woken up by the nightmare, and instead of staying, he went to hide. Johnny doesn't know how to handle this.

Jaehyun has never had a problem with Johnny's nightmares before. They're not exactly a new happening in their friendship. And the dreams have usually been about Mark, too. Johnny is more confused than ever. Why do the nightmares bother Jaehyun now?

Johnny is disoriented, exhausted. He can't think about this, not tonight. He can't think about anything. Focusing is like cupping water in his hands, details running out the sides and between his fingers. He's so _tired_.

"Go back to sleep," Amber urges. "We'll work on this in the morning, okay? You're stressed, that's why you're having trouble sleeping."

Johnny listens to her. He lays back down in his little nest on the floor, built for two but half-empty now that Jaehyun's run off. Amber keeps stroking his face and hair gently, propping herself up easily beside him. The repetitive motion is nice. Just Amber's hand, much smaller than other hands that have done this before, tracing little patterns into his skin.

It's a different comfort than he's used to. There's nothing beneath it, no tension or expectation. Just comfort for comfort's sake, like a parent would do.

Like a best friend would do.

\---------------

When Johnny truly wakes up, much later, Amber is scrambling eggs. Sunlight streams into the apartment, filtering everything with a warm light. The whole place smells like food. And Jaehyun is tucked into the bed with him.

It's so uncanny that Johnny wonders briefly if last night even happened. If Jaehyun's been beside him the whole time, sleeping and then waiting like he is now, scrolling on his phone until Johnny wakes up. But the way that Jaehyun tenses up when he notices that Johnny is up gives it away, reassures him that no, Johnny's not crazy. Something definitely happened.

"Hey hyung," Jaehyun says gently, eyes not leaving his phone screen. "You scared me last night."

"Jaehyun, I'm so sorry," Johnny begins, immediately, "I just -"

"Don't," says Jaehyun, putting his phone down now. "It's okay. It was just a dream. But you did startle me pretty bad, when you got started. I slept in Yixing-hyung's bed until you calmed down."

Jaehyun looks truly apologetic, and it makes Johnny feel worse, somehow.

"I felt so bad, leaving you there. I came back once you were asleep again," Jaehyun says.

"You don't have to do that," Johnny replies.

"It's just good that Amber was here to help, otherwise I would have felt so much worse," Jaehyun shakes his head, as though clearing away the thought of it.

Johnny sits up, groggy. "I mean it. If you're uncomfortable, just -"

"No, I wanna be near you," Jaehyun insists. "I want to help you. I need to help you, I want-"

And then he stops, pulls himself back as though he's said too much, revealed something he didn't want to reveal.

"Amber's making us breakfast," he redirects, instead. "And Yixing is out getting us some clothes. I gave him your sizes."

Johnny arches a brow. "Is he paying?"

"Yeah. I offered him cash but he refused. Said it was his treat, since he's the one who busted me out and pissed off Taemin."

Johnny checks his own phone, resting on the blankets beside his head, and sees with mild surprise that it's nearly noon. They went to bed early, and he slept on the train, too. He must have really been exhausted.

"It's noon. You call this breakfast?" Johnny asks, slightly louder, so that Amber can hear him.

"First meal of the day is breakfast, shithead!" Amber calls back.

And just like that, the weird mood snaps, and things are okay again. They're back to where they've been, in a strange kind of new normal, with Jaehyun holding Johnny figuratively both very close and farther away than ever.

Johnny and Jaehyun clean up their bed, folding and piling the blankets and pillows so Yixing can have his living room mostly normal for the day.

When the food is done, the three of them eat eggs and rice and kimchi at Yixing's table, a long rectangular thing that seems to serve as a dining table and a desk and a workspace, all-purpose style. And as Johnny is doing the dishes, Yixing comes home.

"Alright, don't bitch about the styles," Yixing says, setting down a few paper shopping bags full of clothes, "Because I have impeccable taste."

He dumps the bags of clothes right out onto the floor, and starts sorting them into piles, one for Johnny and one for Jaehyun. They each have a couple of mix and match outfits, enough to get them through a few days. At Yixing's request, the two of them change into the new clothes, mostly to see if they fit.

They do. They're new and clean, which is what matters most, but more than that, they actually fit their styles well enough. Johnny gets the feeling that Yixing is really observant and tender, under his flippant, cocky exterior. He wonders mildly why all of his friends are like that. Playfully mean on the outside, soft and sensitive on the inside.

"Now," says Jaehyun, "Now that we're all fed and dressed, can we see what's on the drive?"

"Eager?" Amber teases him.

"Hey, I was robot bait for this, I wanna make sure it wasn't all for nothing," Jaehyun shoots back.

"Yes, let's have a look at it," Yixing agrees.

"Alright, boys, buckle up," Amber says.

She pulls her tablet out of her backpack, the one that runs her own lilac user interface, and the USB drive out of her pocket. Johnny wonders if she's kept it on her person this whole time. She plugs the drive into the tablet, and sets off tapping, bringing up the files.

"You can do that on my laptop," Yixing offers. "Bigger screen. Easier access."

Amber shakes her head. "I don't want to open this thing on a non-secure server. My interface is all custom, I don't have to worry about SM hacking me or tracking my IP or whatever."

Johnny nudges her, teasing. "Showoff."

"Do you know anything about the new class?" Amber asks Yixing as she works.

"The NCT class, you mean?" Yixing says.

"Yeah."

"Nope," Yixing sighs. "Before my time, sorry. I know they exist but that's about it."

"They definitely exist, we've met a few," Amber agrees.

"What's NCT, again? The acronym?" he asks.

Jaehyun answers. "Neo Cardiac Technology."

Amber nods, verifying the answer. She taps a few more things, fingers flying over the touchscreen, and then she lays the tablet down flat on the table in front of her.

"Alright," Amber says, "Let's do this."

The four of them lean across the table to see the small screen. The data file is admittedly kind of lackluster, for all the trouble they went through to get it. There's just a master file, labeled as 'LOTUS: NCT CLASS.' Amber taps it to open up to a list of four sub-files, in a descending line, each separately labeled.

"U, 127, DREAM, WayV," Yixing reads intently, top to bottom.

"Four subclasses," Amber murmurs.

"Four," Johnny repeats, "Four? How many fucking people have they got in here?"

"More than I've ever seen on one project," says Yixing. "There were so many new people in that lab..."

Amber glances at him, and then back at her tablet. "Which one should we start with?"

"Well," pipes up Jaehyun, looking intently at the options, "One time...one time, Taemin mentioned 127 to me. 127 class."

He reaches across Amber and taps on the 127 folder, which opens onto a very simple interface. It's different than the older files Amber has on her home computer. There are no profiles, no pictures of the androids. It's as though this file was compiled quickly, with no time taken on aesthetics, just the basic information dumped into folders.

The contents are simple, just a slugline summary of the android class, a single line of text, followed by a list of the software and hardware units that are used on the class models, and a list of short, uniform numbers.

"ID numbers," Amber hums.

That's right, ID numbers. Mark had mentioned that, back on the compound. He'd rattled off Amber's ID number right to her face.

Johnny stares at the android numbers, as Yixing and Amber mutter and prod at the interface, obviously frustrated with the lack of information it's providing. There's something familiar to Johnny about the numbers, the way that some of the pieces repeat...the way that they're all in a similar numerical gap...

"How do they issue ID numbers?" Johnny asks, to the room at large.

Amber replies, "I don't know if they still do this, but they used to just use our birthdates, in six-digit format."

Yixing nods. "It was an easy way to dehumanize us by taking away our names, and easy for computers to track us if they're just following a digit code."

"Birthdays," Johnny hums, scanning the numbers in the 127 file.

Of course. Birthdays. The NCT recruits are all around the same age, they all start with 95, 96, 97...there's a pattern, and that pattern is age. Searching this way, he finds two numbers in the list of 127 androids that he recognizes.

"This is Taeyong," Johnny says, pointing at one of the IDs, "950701. And Mark, 990802."

"No Ten?" Jaehyun asks.

Johnny shakes his head, "No Ten. Not here."

So Jaehyun closes that folder, and goes back to the main list, clicking instead into the U subclass file. When the numbers load, Johnny reads down them quickly.

"There. 960227. That's Ten," Johnny says.

But as he's reading over the numbers, he realizes something. Here, in this file as well, they're there. Taeyong and Mark. They're both here, too.

"Is that possible?" Johnny asks.

"Is what?" Amber answers.

Johnny points. "Taeyong and Mark...they're in both."

"Both classes?" asks Yixing, surprised.

"Yeah."

"I mean...there is one way," Yixing says. "These could be upgrade classes. Not whole android design classes, but subclasses of particular tech upgrades that they want to keep organized."

Amber zooms in on the text at the top of the file. "The U summary says...'Understanding' AI Advance."

"What's that mean?" Jaehyun asks.

"No idea," says Amber.

"Nope," agrees Yixing.

"Well, then, what was 127?" Jaehyun asks, instead.

They go back to the first folder, and the summary at the top reads '127 Energy Advance.'

"Does _that_ mean anything to you guys?"

Johnny shakes his head. "No."

"This is very unhelpful," says Yixing, scrolling aimlessly up and down the page.

"We might as well check the rest of them," says Amber.

She pulls up the DREAM class file, and Johnny's eyes are immediately drawn to the difference in numbers. These ones are almost all in the 00's, with one exception. That same 990802, blinking up at him.

"Mark is in this class, too," Johnny says.

"Here, too?" Amber glances at him.

"That makes three," Johnny swallows hard, "How can he be in three?"

"DREAM is...'Creative Tech Advance,'" Jaehyun reads.

"Don't know what that means, either," says Yixing, sounding frustrated

Johnny grips the edge of the table hard. "It's no wonder that Mark was so...not...not Mark. Not himself. He had all of this done?"

His face must be a picture of panic and disarray, because Amber sends him a gentle smile, and Yixing moves just the tiniest bit closer, a reassuring presence at his side.

"What's the last class?" Yixing asks.

Amber opens the final subclass file. "WayV...'Vehicular Motion Advance.' Jeez. What could that _possibly_ mean?"

"Ten is in this one," Johnny reports, with a cursory glance at the IDs. "Mark isn't."

"Why are there so many repeats?" Jaehyun wonders.

Yixing's gaze sharpens. "Usually, SM prioritizes people who are really exceptional. If one of these recruits has some kind of physical or mental strength that really wows them, I wouldn't be surprised if they put them through multiple levels of upgrades."

Amber had said something similar, when they went over the old SM files at her house. SM is after special people, strong people, important people. People whose qualities would transfer over well to being a superhuman.

"Ten was a dancer and a musician," Johnny says, "He was kind of well-known when he was young. Handsome, strong, the whole package. And Taeyong was a brain, a really good writer and kind of a huge flirt. Big personality."

"Then they're both the kind of people who would hold up well," says Yixing. "But your other friend...Mark..."

"He's ruthless," says Johnny, firmly. "He's the kind of person who...SM would put him down for one upgrade, and he'd ask for five more. Just to prove himself. He's stupid like that."

"Johnny," Amber interrupts, "You know...we don't know that Mark was a volunteer, you know."

Johnny pauses as though he's been slapped. That's...not what he meant at all. If he had to think about it, he would have assumed that Mark was kidnapped, like Amber, like Jaehyun. But now the thought is running through his mind...what if Mark had volunteered?

He couldn't have. Johnny can't let himself believe that.

"Okay. How does this information help us?" Jaehyun cuts in.

"Well," says Yixing, looking mildly uncomfortable, as if he had sensed the mental gymnastics Johnny had done, "We know in the most basic terms what kind of research SM is doing now."

"We have names for it all," Amber agrees, "And we can use the names to flesh out exactly what kind of tech they've built, what things they're putting in the new androids."

The tablet is still open to the WayV folder, and idly, Johnny goes back to the very top option, the U folder, the one with all three of his friends listed inside. As he looks at the one-liner slug, he can feel a nagging thought on the periphery of his mind, a piece that's threatening to click into place.

U. Understanding. An advance in comprehension? An advance in... understanding the world?

"Two of these..." Johnny says, out loud, surprising even himself, "Two of these things sound like tech I've heard of before."

Amber and Yixing exchange a look, seeming for all the world like concerned parents, and then they look back at Johnny.

"U and DREAM research...they asked _me_ to do stuff like that. before I quit," Johnny says. "They wanted me to make emotional tech."

"Nothing is saying this is emotional tech," Amber placates. "We don't know that."

"It says creative tech, understanding tech," argues Yixing.

"That sounds like the kind of thing they wanted," Johnny agrees, turning to meet Yixing's eye. "But I said I wouldn't do it. It was one of the things that pushed me over the edge. To quit. I thought it was...impossible..."

Yixing nods, very slowly. "I've never heard of anything like that. For all of us, it was about physical advances. They wanted our bodies to be stronger, better. Superhuman. Our minds stayed the same. Except for maybe inducing memory loss, they couldn't change our thoughts and feelings even if they wanted to."

"But isn't that what DREAM and U sound like?" Johnny insists.

"It's hard to tell from the summary here. But yeah. I'd agree," says Yixing grimly.

"How could they do that?"

"They must have kept working on those advances without you."

"This is a lot," Amber interrupts, "We've been through a lot."

Johnny looks at her, "Amber-"

"No. This is a lot," she repeats. "Let's just chill for the rest of today, okay? We need to puzzle this over slowly."

Jaehyun cuts in, "But wouldn't it help more to-"

"For now, we need to lay low. Until we can go back to Seoul and find out some more about all of this. We can't learn anything about the new androids if those same androids catch us," says Amber.

"Good idea," says Yixing, pivoting quickly over to Amber's side for reasons that Johnny cannot fathom.

He turns on his TV, switching over quickly to some old American show with Korean subtitles. Then, with a sneaky grin, he tickles and pokes Johnny until he's gasping with the effort of holding back his laughter. Johnny lets Yixing maneuver him over to the couch, and there he melts in the cushions, content to just watch shit TV for the afternoon.

Amber turns off the tablet and joins them, and Jaehyun brings over a packet of snacks and completes the quartet, sitting on the floor with his back against Johnny's legs.

It's a little frustrating, a little embarrassing that Amber keeping making them take breaks like this. Johnny wants to keep going, to learn more, to do more. But he recognizes that without time to decompress, they'd all be out of their minds by now.

There's time. They can watch TV for a while, and enjoy each other's company.

Just for a moment.

\---------------

Johnny takes a nap, by accident.

He must have been more tired than he felt, to need more sleep after sleeping in as late as he did. Or he's just more depressed than he thought. Either way, he knocks out on the couch during an episode of some cooking show that Yixing likes and wakes up to some other ridiculous show blaring over the TV. Jaehyun is curled up beside him, scribbling away on a piece of paper. Amber's tablet is propped open on his knees.

When he notices Johnny is awake, he nudges Johnny's shoulder. "Hyungie, look."

He tilts the paper toward Johnny. There's numbers and figures all over it, a big mess that Johnny can't discern.

"I counted it all out, and there's nineteen whole people between all the NCT classes," Jaehyun says.

"Nineteen?" Johnny repeats.

Jaehyun nods. "There's a bunch of repeats, people in more than one class, but altogether there are nineteen unique ID numbers. That's nineteen people who have at least one of these android upgrades."

Johnny swipes at his face, sure he's drooled somewhere in his sleep. "There were probably that many people, total, in the older classes that Amber showed us."

"Right?" Jaehyun agrees, "Why are there so many, all of a sudden?"

"Maybe something happened, and they felt like they needed more," Johnny says.

"What kind of thing would make them want more androids, though?"

Johnny stretches his arms over his head, linking his hands together. "This is why Amber wants to know their plans, you know. So she can answer questions like that."

"Maybe she's onto something, then," Jaehyun says, idly scrolling through the NCT android file.

"Hey," Amber barks, approaching them from the direction of the kitchen, "Hands off the tech, kiddo."

She takes her tablet back and snaps the cover shut, tucking the device under her arm. Jaehyun pouts at her.

"We're supposed to be relaxing," she chastises.

Jaehyun looks like he wants to argue back, to start a play-fight with Amber over it. He's leaning forward, probably about to do just that, but Yixing pipes up from where he's sat cross-legged on the ground, in front of the TV propped on a small table in front of them.

"Hey guys? Am I going crazy?"

They all turn to see him scrutinizing the TV, right up close to the screen. The channel is turned to the news, and Yixing is jabbing one finger at a tiny figure in the middle of the broadcast.

"Isn't this one of those guys?" he asks. "Jaehyun? Wasn't he there with us in that big warehouse?"

The story that's being run is about the Samsung chaebol family, the concept of the powerful family that owns the majority of the Samsung Electronics group something that Johnny vaguely recognizes from existing in South Korea for a few years.

The anchor, a pretty young woman in a frilly pink blouse, is reporting, _"-After the unfortunate death of one Lee Seongtaek, a minor shareholder and distant relative in the Samsung Lee family, there is good news in the wake of tragedy. 22-year-old Lee Jiyeon, granddaughter of patriarch Lee Geonhee, is engaged!"_

The camera cuts to three side-by-side pictures, labeled as the deceased man, the patriarch, and the young girl.

_"The lucky groom-to-be? He's a business magnate, a young executive in a Seoul-based medical tech business. He's a foreign-born resident named Lee Youngheum, of an unrelated Lee family."_

The picture cuts again, back to the original live feed, and Yixing points again at one of the people in the scene.

And there, waving and smiling prettily to the cameras in a gorgeous fitted suit, standing beside a modestly-dressed young woman, is Ten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys still have not guessed my 127 bias. I am REALLY enjoying watching you try, though~ One more try, to guess. It's not Johnny, Jaehyun, Mark, Taeyong, or Yuta l o l. I will say, if you read my other JohnJae fic, it should be REALLY obvious ;)
> 
> In honor of the Dreamies comeback (FIXED. UNIT.) I will also tell you that my Dream bias is Renjun.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lotus can recover. A lotus isn't stopped or slowed down by anything. Rain rolls right off its petals. A flower that grows in muddy water, transforming filth into something beautiful.
> 
> I want you to be like that too, Johnny. Perfect. Like the rest of them.
> 
> (SM Entertainment Android AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, lovelies, the writing brain was darn broke. Enjoy this chapter anyway~
> 
> Trigger warning for blood and also uhhh a car wreck. But if you're real squeamish, this ain't the best fic for you honey. I'm real squeamish, trust me, I would know.

The news story ends and the perky TV hosts begin to talk about the next piece. The image is gone but Johnny swears can still see Ten's face etched on the screen, his too-perfect face smiling to beat the band, surrounded by some of the richest, most powerful businesspeople in Korea. It's one more blow to Johnny's fragile psyche, another thing that he has to comprehend on top of all the other ridiculous things that have happened in the past weeks.

They sit in silence, Johnny and Jaehyun on the couch, Amber standing, Yixing on the floor, where they’ve been motionless for the last several moments. It’s as if they’re all taking a breath, absorbing what they’ve seen. Johnny can practically feel his own tired gears turning.

It’s a laundry list of horrors, laid out bare like that. Ten's an android. All of Johnny’s friends have become androids. And Ten, Johnny's Ten, is engaged to be married to some random girl from a chaebol family.

It feels like Johnny's brains are about to melt out of his ears. He's hurt and confused and exhausted, and under all of that...

Jealous?

It certainly feels like jealousy. Which makes no sense, because that's not really Ten, it's not as if Ten is truly getting engaged to a new partner. Whatever's going on, it's not worth being jealous over. Still, that feeling is bubbling around, making Johnny feel even more fragile than before.

Yixing is giving Johnny a very peculiar look, a knowing kind of look, which Johnny doesn't understand until he speaks.

"You know that guy, don't you?" Yixing asks. "The guy getting engaged. The android."

"I used to," says Johnny.

He's had this conversation enough times. He's tired of having it.

"They were friends in college," says Jaehyun.

Yixing is still making that face. "Not to be a pain about it, but the way you're looking at him doesn't really read 'friends.' That's not what I get, anyway."

Johnny doesn't say anything.

“What do you mean?” asks Jaehyun.

Yixing glances at him, and then back at Johnny. “I’m just getting some different vibes, I dunno. Maybe I’m wrong.”

“They’re friends,” says Jaehyun, face falling.

"I’m sure they are, but I just have a feeling. You look the way I feel when I see an ex on Instagram, Johnny. You’ve got that face going on," Yixing insists.

"Johnny," says Amber, and her tone is so disappointed and parental that Johnny cringes.

"What?" Johnny replies, trying not to sound defensive.

Amber pauses, as if she's about to say something damning, but then charges on, "You've been pretending everything is okay and playing this out as if he's just your friend."

"He is," Johnny says.

"He is now," says Amber, "He's your best friend. But before that? When you first met? For like your first two and a half years of college?"

“Amber, not now,” Johnny protests.

“You need to be honest with yourself. And with everyone, Johnny,” she says, with a significant glance toward Jaehyun.

Yixing looks torn, one part curious and two parts mortified on Johnny's behalf, and Jaehyun just looks sober. Johnny knows he has to be honest, but saying it out loud is...not something he likes doing. It might be some lingering unconscious homophobia (biphobia?), or some of his own discomfort around talking about his personal life. Regardless, it feels like the floor is dropping out from under him.

He doesn't want to say it. There's a horrible feeling in his gut about saying it. But he knows why Amber is insisting. It changes everything, to say it.

"Okay," Johnny nods, "He was my b-boyfriend."

Jaehyun's expression turns icy. Johnny wasn’t expecting that. But Jaehyun looks as though he was truly betrayed by Johnny not telling him.

Johnny's throat is tight, the way that precedes angry tears. "But after we broke up and for like, the last four years...he's just been my best friend, I swear."

Johnny doesn't quite know why he's justifying himself, who he's justifying himself to. Yixing doesn't have any reason to care, either way. Amber just wants him to be honest, mostly with himself, about the way he feels about Ten and why he feels it. She was there for all of it, in college, she knows Ten and knows what was happening. His logical brain can keep up with all of this, knows he's being ridiculous. But Jaehyun...

Jaehyun. Perfect, wonderful Jaehyun.

Jaehyun, who sleeps beside him every night and comforts him and has been going through hell to help Johnny’s friends. Johnny’s exes.

Huh.

Johnny likes Jaehyun, doesn't he?

The way he feels about Jaehyun, it's familiar. It's the way that he feels about seeing Mark again, in that office, in his dreams. The way he feels about seeing Ten on television, getting engaged to someone else. It's the way that you feel when you like someone romantically, more than friends. He’s so fucking stupid to have not picked up on it before.

Johnny really can't handle this right now.

So when Amber leans forward, brows knitted and jaw set like she has something important to say, Johnny is ready to jump into whatever it is. He'll talk about anything else, get distracted by anything else.

"Well," Amber hums.

"This fucking sucks," says Yixing, succinctly.

"You know what we have to do," continues Amber.

"Yeah," cuts in Jaehyun, "We have to go back to Seoul and see what this is all about."

"Do we have to?" Johnny asks, before he can stop himself.

There's a whine in his voice, and it mortifies him. He sounds like a petulant teenager, being dragged on errands with his parents. Where’s that eagerness to move on and focus on something new? Where’s his basic emotional maturity? What is wrong with him?

"Uhh...we kind of do, yeah," Jaehyun snaps back.

Amber has her tablet in hand already, scrolling away. Johnny should have known that the three of them would be gung-ho to jump on this new problem. It's just him who's starting to have second thoughts, getting tired of running all up and down the nation trying to escape assorted figures from his past.

"That TV spot was their first press conference," Amber reports, "The Samsung people are a big deal, so there's another one on Sunday."

"How many times do they need to get up and say the same thing?" asks Yixing.

"The one today was for national TV. The Sunday one is for internet media and international journalists."

"Do that many people care what one single chaebol family does?" Jaehyun asks. "They're worse than celebrities, they're just rich for no reason."

Amber looks sidelong at him. "I'm American, don't ask me. You're the only full Korean national here."

"You know what, that's fair.

"It would be easy enough to get on the guest list and sneak in," says Yixing. "Just walk right into the conference and snoop around. "

"What if this isn't even related to the whole android thing?" Johnny asks weakly.

"It has to be, Johnny, come on," Jaehyun objects. "It's not like he went out and fell in love with that girl, right? His emotions aren't right, he's got all of those NCT upgrade things."

"This is a plan of some kind," agrees Amber. "But I have no idea what SM could want."

"Money," Yixing suggests. "Investment money?"

Amber shrugs. "We could run ourselves in circles theorizing. We just need to go get some intel."

"The same way we need to get intel at SM?" cuts in Johnny, "And ended up getting nothing helpful at all?"

"Johnny, quit it," says Jaehyun, uncharacteristically cold. "We didn't get nothing, we got information. Like we went in for."

"Only a little piece of it. Not enough to help us, or to help anyone else," Johnny argues.

"You also got me," Yixing adds, with a touch of humor.

It doesn't help. Jaehyun is fuming.

"Look, hyung, we're doing all of this for _you!_ " Jaehyun practically yells back. "Stop being so fucking ungrateful!"

Jaehyun has never, never raised his voice against Johnny before. It's like being hit. It's worse than being hit. Johnny can see exactly how obtuse he's being, is disgusted at himself for not wanting to help. But Jaehyun...what happened to his patience? His kindness?

"That's how learning works, anyway," Yixing redirects delicately, "Haven't you ever done an internet deep dive? You find one interesting thing that leads you to more and more things. Just threads of facts that take you somewhere new."

"It's like a puzzle," Amber agrees. "We found one piece and now this is another."

"Maybe I didn't want to do the puzzle in the first place. I wanted to play Monopoly," Johnny mutters.

Jaehyun stands up suddenly, leaving Johnny alone on the couch. "Can I go for a walk?"

"If someone goes with you," says Yixing. "I don't want you to get taken again."

"Can Amber go with me?" Jaehyun asks.

"Yeah, buddy, I'll go," she agrees.

Jaehyun's got his shoes on and is out the door before anyone else can even move. Amber sighs, and takes her time in grabbing her stuff and her own shoes. Johnny doesn't move, knowing he's directly responsible for Jaehyun's mood shift but also knowing that there's nothing he can do to help, right now.

As she heads for the door, Amber calls back, "There's some stuff in my pack that you might wanna play with, Johnny."

The door swings shut behind her, leaving Johnny with Yixing, which is awkward in its own right. They haven't spent time together alone, yet. Yixing is an android, Amber's friend, Baekhyun's groupmate. Their connections are strange, and Johnny doesn't know exactly how he feels about it.

So he takes Amber's suggestion, and goes to her backpack, opening the main compartment and rifling through it. There's the LRAD speaker, the faraday umbrella, and the taser thing that she had packed the other day. But in the same pocket that usually holds her tablet, there's another big flat metal square, maybe a half inch thick and eight inches square, the size of a notebook.

Johnny picks it up, plays with it, turning it over in his hands. The front is a mirror, the back a plexi-plastic panel that opens up like the hardware panel of a laptop computer, closed with magnets instead of screws or snaps. Inside is a system of fine circuits and tiny computer chips, hardwired into the back of the mirror surface. A tiny switch sticks through the casing.

He flips it, and turns over the panel so that it's mirror-side-up. As he lays it on his lap, the mirror surface shudders with a tiny electric hum, and then the surface melts to the color of the floor below. His legs are hidden.

It's Amber's metamaterial cloaking, just one panel of it. The stuff that’s built onto the outside of her house.

Johnny holds the panel up in front of the wall. It changes to match Yixing's pale blue flower-printed wallpaper. The reaction time is almost instant, after the panel stops moving. Interesting. Johnny wonders if it works on objects that are moving, or if it can't keep up.

He looks at the plastic cover, held in his other hand. Taped on the inside of the casing is a sticky note, one yellow square that reads 'portable - invisibility cloak?' in Amber's handwriting, accompanied by a stick figure of Harry Potter, complete with glasses and scar.

"Yixing-hyung," Johnny calls, deferring and hoping that the honorific will smooth over any lingering feelings about how rude Johnny's been today. "Do you know anything about electronics?"

"Only what I need to fix myself up," Yixing replies.

"Do you have any tools? Or materials?"

"A couple things."

"Can I use them?"

Yixing grins, easy and wide, "Sure thing."

From his room, Yixing brings a cardboard box with a toolkit, an assortment of wires and surge protectors, plastic wire coating, and tiny bits of welding plasma. It's more than enough for what Johnny wants, especially considering Amber has done most of the work herself, developing the technology and building the main casing and components.

It's obvious that Amber was asking him if he wanted to work on this project. And he does, God, does he want to. He hasn't done a hands-on engineering job in months, not since he left SM.

He gets to work separating wires with a pair of needle-nose pliers, cutting through delicate links of solder and prying the pieces apart to lay them out on the table. As he works, Yixing wanders back up to his makeshift work station.

"Whatcha doin?" he asks.

"I'm gonna take this all apart and put it back together," Johnny answers.

"Will you remember how it goes?"

In spite of himself, Johnny laughs. "Of course. I’m putting the pieces in order so they’ll just go back into the casing in reverse."

Yixing regards him fondly. "You really are a robotics genius, aren't you?"

"I guess I must be," says Johnny, "Because I'm a social idiot."

"Why do you say that?" Yixing asks, amused.

Johnny exhales hard, digging at a particularly tough bit of solder. "I think I have a crush on Jaehyun."

Yixing coughs, so loud and hard that Johnny looks up at him, alarmed. It almost sounded like a laugh, but Johnny's not entirely sure what could be funny.

"You-" Yixing coughs again, "You think - I think you might, buddy."

Johnny looks back at the metal panel. "You won't tell him, will you? He's my closest friend. I don't want to make things weird."

"No, I won't tell him," Yixing assures him gently.

It feels good to share that with someone. Even if Johnny's not certain what it means to like Jaehyun, or what he's going to do about it, talking about it is like letting some of that bubbling anxiety escape. Yixing is kind and soft-spoken, despite his bravado, and Johnny trusts him.

Time melts away as Johnny works on the circuitry. As he peels away the layers of hardware, he considers Amber’s note. She wants the cloaking to be portable. He assumes that the system on the house works so well because there are so many panels working together to project a clear image and hide the house with only tiny seams.

But to make it portable…maybe Amber had the right idea, herself. An invisibility cloak, made of fabric, might work. Johnny ends up filching a piece of tattered old sheer curtain from one of the cupboards, with Yixing's blessing, and begins to affix the empty panel into the center of the fabric.

He only really knows time has passed when Amber and Jaehyun return.

"We got the solvent!" Amber announces cheerfully.

"What solvent?" asks Yixing.

"I stuck a GPS unit to Jaehyun's tooth the other day, that's how we were gonna find him before you interrupted us," she says, teasing, "I got the solvent stuff I need to remove it."

“In his _teeth?_ ” repeats Yixing, eyes wide in exaggerated horror.

Jaehyun gives him a wide smile, all teeth.

"How’d you find the stuff?" asks Johnny.

Amber sets a tiny plastic pot and a dental scraper down on Yixing’s table, beside the pile of electronic bits in front of Johnny. "A dentist."

"They wouldn't just give you that shit," says Yixing.

"Nah, we just busted in," says Jaehyun, "Took it."

Yixing laughs, "What?!"

"We found an orthodontist and pretended we were there for a consultation, and while Jaehyun was flirting with the receptionist, I just kinda stole it," says Amber. "It's fine, it's just a little bit."

Amber thinks it’s important to take the tracker out before it can be used against them, and she’s right about that. Half of the table is kept covered in wires and screws and bits for Johnny's project, and the other half becomes Amber's workspace. She sits Jaehyun in a chair, leans his head back onto the tabletop, and starts applying the orthodontic solvent to the tracker on his molar.

"Making headway?" she asks Johnny, over Jaehyun's chin.

"I think so," Johnny murmurs. "You want this to be fully portable?"

"I've worked on it for a while," Amber says, "I considered just making it project a hologram onto the surface, but the metacloaking works better the way it's designed, to actually hide the objects behind it."

Johnny holds up the section of curtain. "I think we could expand the image from the panel onto a fabric base. Like an old movie projector on a fabric screen."

"That would make it a real invisibility cloak, if you could wear it," says Amber.

"It would look really shitty if you were, like, running," says Johnny, "But for hiding in plain sight, it would work well."

Amber gives a gentle tug in Jaehyun's mouth, and comes up with the tracking chip in her hand. "So, what, just add a repeater so that the image spreads onto the fabric?"

"I think that would be enough."

Jaehyun sits up, rubbing his neck from craning it backwards for too long. He gives Johnny a tight, sad kind of smile before going to sit on the couch in front of the TV, with Yixing. Johnny doesn't even want to start considering the way it makes a knot tighten in his gut, the way he wants to apologize to Jaehyun right away and fix everything.

Amber leans on the table with a grin. "See, John, don't you feel better now that you've gotten to flex your big ol' brain for a while?"

"I guess," he hedges.

Amber gives him a fond slug on the shoulder harder than strictly necessary, laughing when he protests.

"Yeah," Johnny cedes, "Yeah, I feel better."

\---------------

That content, somewhat settled feeling lasts until he's about to go into the Samsung press conference.

It's happening in a small rented space at COEX convention center in Gangnam, at six PM sharp. They had come back up to Seoul the night before, counting on the dead of night to hide them as they went back to Amber's house to set up base, change clothes and drop off their other belongings and then go to the convention center across town.

They've split up. Yixing, Amber, and Jaehyun are together, in a different part of the building. The two androids are with Jaehyun, keeping an eye on him since he’s the only one who seems to be a target. Johnny is safest alone, without any extra technology or companions to draw attention to him. The androids respect him, or at the very least, they don’t seem to want him dead. So the other three are off together, on a reconnaissance mission. They're dressed up to the nines, setting out to chat with Samsung investors and spokespeople, to security and anyone else who might have some information to spill to three attractive young people.

And Johnny is on press duty. They'd printed him a fake press badge, and now he's there, in business casual, badge on and a bag slung over his shoulder and Yixing's hobbyist camera in hand, to attend the conference, hiding in plain sight.

So far, so good, for Johnny. He feels okay as he sits in his folding chair, buried in the back of the group, surrounded by real journalists and publicity managers from all over. He envies his friends, though, for just getting to go be charismatic and make smalltalk for the evening. Johnny has a whole fake identity as a journalist to uphold. His biggest challenge has been remembering what fake American magazine he's supposed to be representing.

He's shot the shit with the people around him, laughed about how ridiculous it all is - an engagement is just an engagement, money and power or not, and having multiple press conferences for it seems so strange.

But all of that calm and cool goes to shit when Ten walks onto the little makeshift stage at the front of the room.

Ten is perfectly dressed in a rich tailored suit, a blinding smile on his face, looking for all the world like a wealthy, excited husband-to-be. The chaebol fiancée isn't there with him; instead, Ten is flanked by three men. Baekhyun stands on his right, looking resplendent in dark purple, and a brown tweed-clad Yukhei is on the left, with another tall blonde boy who Johnny doesn't know.

Three of them. Three androids, right there, being caught on camera for millions of people to see. And nobody but Johnny knows the truth about them. It’s almost sickening.

It's kind of sad how out of place the fourth kid looks, Johnny muses, as the crowd around him titters. Ten, Yukhei, and Baekhyun are confident, easy smiles and hands in pockets. The kid is tall and handsome but looks utterly perplexed as to why he's there at all.

"We'll begin," says Ten, into the microphone in front of him. "Please also welcome my associates Byun Baekhyun and Wong Yukhei."

The two of them wave. The blonde boy just stands there, stock-still, getting no introduction, as though the other three have forgotten he’s there. All at once, people raise their hands and clipboards and mics into the air, and Ten gestures to a man down near the front. He calls a question that Johnny can't hear.

"Jiyeon-ssi's family is planning the destination," Ten replies into the mic, still beaming, "Of course, the wedding is for the family. They have final say."

Another journalist is called, and another banal question answered. They'll honeymoon abroad, no, they won't talk about finances here, this is a joyous occasion, Ten's (or, Youngheum’s, since his Korean pseudonym is being used today) family is thrilled - just a barrage of marriage questions that give Johnny nothing. Baekhyun and Yukhei join in here and there, adding bits by virtue of their fictional professional relationships to Ten and the new Samsumg/SM partnership.

Finally, a young woman journalist who's sitting relatively near Johnny directs a question at the blonde boy, still standing on the edge of the group, silent.

She smiles gently as she calls, "Pardon me, but for journalistic accuracy, who is your last companion?"

The blonde smiles sheepishly, and comes to the mic when Ten gestures him forward.

"Kim Jungwoo," he says, "I'm a new member of the executive team. Thank you for welcoming me."

As if a switch has been flipped, Jungwoo suddenly has an easy charisma about him. It's not supernatural, in the way that Ten and Baekhyun are charming because they’re programmed to be like that. It's just sincere, kind of boyish and silly. Johnny finds himself wondering why the hell this boy is here at all.

"I'm proud of Youngheum-hyung for expanding his personal life and the company's interests, he's really wise," the kid is going on.

"Loyal, aren't you?" calls someone down front, cold and teasing.

Jungwoo's grin turns sharp, "Of course. I'd give my right arm for this company."

His expression is cheeky, and the crowd titters with laughter, but Johnny is distracted. The kid tugs on the cuff of his blue blazer as he speaks, and it draws Johnny's attention directly to the right hand in question. There's a thick bandage wrapped around Jungwoo's palm, disappearing into the sleeve of his jacket.

Just like Yukhei had that day at The Mirror Room. Jungwoo is an android, too. Of course he is.

Johnny is reminded of exactly how many androids there are. He's only met a few of them, four or five, now, but there are nineteen by Jaehyun's count. All of those, plus the older classes, with another twenty between those. It’s enough androids to do pretty much anything.

The kid, Jungwoo, is still standing with his soft confident expression on, but he's sweating bullets now that he’s said what he said. It makes Johnny think of Yukhei, at the cafe, how sweet and normal he was. This kid is still like that, still largely himself. Yukhei's mind seems to be gone now.

It must be gradual, Johnny realizes. Like the company did Amber's four amputations one at a time, they must do limbs, torsos, and minds separately. Emotional and mental upgrades are probably the hardest and last step. They're the thing that was hardest to develop, last to be made.

That means Jungwoo is mid-transformation, now, his new right arm still bandaged and healing. Johnny wants to steal this kid and take him away, save him the way he might have been able to save Yukhei, had he realized. The way he could have saved Mark...or Taeyong...

The androids would never let him, of course. They'd rip him to pieces before he could react. But he wants to.

The conference is ending before Johnny knows it. Baekhyun says a few kind words about SM, blatant lies about their charity and humility and honor that make Johnny want to gag.

"Good to see everyone," Baekhyun says, with a smirk. "Everyone."

And then, as if they've been pointed there, all three full androids turn to look at Johnny. They make direct eye contact for one, two, three painful seconds. Ten winks. And then they leave.

That's...not good. Very very not good.

The room erupts into loud chatter when the subjects are gone. Johnny is careful to get himself lost in the mix of the crowd as the audience funnels back into the lobby. They knew he was there. They looked right at him. Why didn't they do anything?

He thinks he's doing okay at being surreptitious. He slips the camera and the fake press badge into his shoulder bag and heads for the exit. The other three are supposed to meet up with him outside, to debrief and head home together.

But a hand on his shoulder stops him.

"Hey."

A voice in his ear, light and a little nasal. Johnny turns to see a mop of blonde hair. It's the boy, Jungwoo. His pretty face is twisted with concern.

"They're talking about you," he says. "My hyungs, I know you know what I mean. I don't know who you are, but they...they're not good. They're really not, you need to go."

His voice is emphatic, urgent. He lets go of Johnny but stays leaning in close, his body language nervous but his eyes set with a kind of cold determination.

"Calm down," Johnny urges, "You're gonna be in deep shit if they see you."

"I'm telling you, you have to go _now_. They're after you, and if they catch you..."

Johnny is pretty sure the androids aren't after him the way this kid thinks they are. Even if they spoke about him, it was likely not about capturing him. If they wanted Johnny caught, they could have caught him long before. The kid is scared shitless, though, and Johnny’s not gonna dismiss his concern when he took such a big risk to come talk to him.

Johnny turns to scan the room, see if the androids are anywhere near. He doesn't see them, but while his back is turned, there's a horrible gasp from Jungwoo.

He turns, and there's Baekhyun, all pressed suit and picture-perfect smile, holding Jungwoo by the shoulder. From afar, it probably looks like nothing out of the ordinary, but Johnny can see where Baekhyun's fingers are digging into the meat of Jungwoo's shoulder. Much too quickly, blood begins to soak into the fabric of his blazer, staining the blue fabric a mottled black.

"These sutures are much too fresh for you to be acting up, puppy," Baekhyun says sweetly, just loud enough for Johnny to hear, too. "I would hate to have to redo this arm just because you couldn't keep your mouth shut."

He digs his fingers in farther, right into the place where Jungwoo's new bionic arm meets his shoulder, where he's just had a major surgery. The kid is gasping in pain, his face turning red with the extortion of not screaming out loud.

"Hi, Johnny," Baekhyun adds. "Good to see you."

Finally, he lets Jungwoo go, and the kid folds in on himself, clutching his shoulder with the other hand.

"My errant little puppy here is happy to see you, too. He's spirited, hm?" Baekhyun gives Jungwoo a fake, simpering smile.

Baekhyun looks down at his hand with distaste, Jungwoo’s blood bright against his skin, and wipes his fingers off on Jungwoo’s blazer. Johnny just watches in disgust.

Jungwoo, for his part, meets Johnny's eye. His expression is set, serious, his jaw working. He nods, just once.

And then Jungwoo collapses into Baekhyun as though he's passed out, dropping like a ton of bricks onto the android. It knocks both of them to the floor, catching Baekhyun by surprise, and they go down in a heap.

Johnny runs.

He runs out the first door that he sees. The meetup plan has gone right out the window. The androids have seen him, and they're obviously not above messing with him, hurting people right in public. He’s not about to lead these people right to Jaehyun, right to Yixing and Amber.

As he weaves around the building, he digs through his bag. He pulls out the newly converted cloaking fabric, the piece of metamaterial he experimented on at Yixing's. They tested it a few times on their own, but there's no guarantee that it'll work this time. He can hear voices behind him.

Johnny stops in the shadow of the building, and throws the fabric over himself. He’s tall, so one edge drapes just over his head and the other barely brushes his shoes. He hunches down so that the fabric touches the concrete. With adrenaline-shaky fingers, he hits the switch, and with a soft whir, the cloaking turns on. He looks down, and can't see his feet behind the folds of the fabric.

It's working.

Just in time, too, because Baekhyun and Yukhei come around the corner of the building. They’re just walking, seemingly in no hurry. They meander around the sidewalk in front of where Johnny hides, scanning the eaves and hollows of the building exterior.

"Do you see him?" Yukhei asks.

"Nah," Baekhyun laughs meanly, "He's a real pest, huh?"

Yukhei huffs a laugh, too. "Why do they even care about him up top?"

"Who knows."

They move on surprisingly quickly, which means the cloaking really is working. Johnny's shocked, but he takes off running again once they're gone. He works his phone out of his pocket and calls Amber, signal be damned.

She answers with a short, "What's wrong?"

"I'm going back on my own. They're poking around, they saw me. Safer to go alone."

"Okay. Be careful."

She hangs up. Johnny knows she's paranoid about SM tracking her cell signal, and probably everyone else's too. It's fine. Johnny keeps going.

When he gets to the road, he takes off the cloak. There's a subway station right there at COEX, but Johnny figures it's safer to get on the train somewhere farther away, where he's less likely to run into someone who's seen him at the convention center. So he starts walking west, toward the next subway stop.

After what can't have been more than five minutes, they find him.

A car pulls up alongside him, rolling slowly to keep pace with his walking gait.

"I do _love_ cat and mouse," Ten purrs, from the passenger's seat of the midsize SUV. "Come on, little mouse. Run for me."

Johnny does. He kicks into a run again, knowing that if he gets into the subway, gets underground, they can't follow. If they steal him from the station, he'll make a scene. But hopefully he can just disappear into the evening traffic.

They chase him. The car speeds up at traffic lights to catch him, cuts narrowly through intersections, all incredibly dangerous to do in Gangnam traffic.

He can’t tell if they’re chasing him to catch him, or just to chase. Ten’s cat-and-mouse comment makes him think the latter; play with your food for a while before you eat it. Just to be cruel.

At the odd red light, Johnny can hear Ten’s distinct voice yowling complaints to the person driving, a small figure that he can't make out, telling them to go faster, drive better. They narrowly dodge through the next yellow light, ignoring the angry beeping from other cars.

The subway station is in sight. Just one more intersection.

At this final light, the car carrying Ten and presumably the others blows through a red, into traffic making a left turn. Johnny watches, horror-stricken, as the SUV sails through the intersection and collides against the tall, broad side of a bus. The front of the car crumples like plastic wrap with a horrible screech of metal on metal.

Chaos.

Traffic stops, horns from all sides as people swerve around the wreck. The bus is largely okay, just a cavernous dent in the cargo area below where passengers sit. But the car is totaled.

In the split seconds after the crash, the passenger doors shear open, both front and rear, and out comes the three of them: Ten, Yukhei, and Baekhyun. They're tattered but mostly no worse for the wear, their android frames somehow taking the brunt of the damage with ease. As if nothing happened at all, the three of them climb into a passing cab, and force the ogling driver to take them away.

Johnny is frozen in shock, just standing. The androids are gone. But someone was driving. He spares a thought to pray that it's not Jungwoo in there. Jungwoo, who is still so human.

He can see a figure peel themself up from the steering wheel. The driver is still inside.

As if in a trance, Johnny jogs into stopped traffic, toward the wreck. It feels like hours have passed, but it's barely been a minute. Other drivers haven't even gotten out of cars to help, yet. Johnny stops just short of the ruined car.

Through the spiderwebbed windshield, he can see a small woman in the driver's seat. She's got a black jacket and short brown hair, bangs hanging into her face. She spits blood and it splatters against the cracked glass. She's bleeding from her hairline, and from her cheek.

She locks eyes on Johnny. Slowly, she reaches out one hand toward him, as if beckoning him forward, as if begging.

But her hand, from the elbow down, is just the silver and ivory scaffolding of a bionic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright kids, no one guessed it, so I'll tell you. I think I gave myself away in this chapter though, torturing my baby love like that. 
> 
> My 127 bias is JUNGWOO U W U *-* and running a close second is Haechan lmao. What can I say...I have a noona kink dshfghjsdg gotta have those good good younger boys.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lotus can recover. A lotus isn't stopped or slowed down by anything. Rain rolls right off its petals. A flower that grows in muddy water, transforming filth into something beautiful.
> 
> I want you to be like that too, Johnny. Perfect. Like the rest of them.
> 
> (SM Entertainment Android AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter marks the Completion of our main cast of characters. From the beginning, I planned on a badass final squad of protags, and fuck, we get that. Johnny, Jaehyun, Amber, Yixing, and Wendy: Dream Team. Hell yeah.

It's a bionic hand.

The exposed metal and plastic infrastructure of it is covered in fresh blood from other places on the woman's body, the parts that are still biological. She's reaching out weakly for Johnny, her fingers quivering with the extortion of it. Android or not, she's probably going into shock already.

Johnny just stares at her for a second, taking in her wild eyes and blood-streaked face. She's still bleeding, her hair matting against her face as the red stain across her forehead grows bigger.

She's seriously injured, Johnny knows that much. She needs help, badly. But if a paramedic picks her up, there are some things they're bound to notice. They'll figure out she's an android pretty damn fast, and there's no guarantee they'll be able to help her properly. There's no guarantee they'll even want to help her at all. The very existence of partially-human androids getting out into the world seems bad to Johnny. Catastrophic, actually.

So, before he can lose his nerve, Johnny yells through the glass, "Cover your face!"

The woman still looks dazed from the accident, but she registers the instruction after a moment. She leans her head back down against the steering wheel and covers herself up with her trembling robotic hands. Johnny glances around, and spies a piece of the car's fender that was shorn off in the collision. It's a narrow, light strip of metal, but it'll do the job.

He wills all the strength he can, and smashes his makeshift club through the driver's side window. The glass shatters as car windows are designed to do, falls into hundreds of tiny blunt-sided fragments. Johnny reaches through the opening and unlocks the door. The handle unlatches, but the damage to the car is keeping the door from swinging open correctly. It jams, making a narrow gap too small to fit a person through. That won't work.

He's too far into this to give up now. He takes hold of the car door with both hands, wiggling his fingers into the small gap between the frame and the door proper, leans back into a squat to protect his back, and wrenches the door open with all of the brute strength he can possibly find. Johnny is not small, and not particularly weak. The metal groans, but the hinge bends, the door spreading farther open with each tug.

"John Suh," says the woman weakly.

Her voice is crackly and indistinct, like a speaker underwater. Like a stereo that's half busted.

Johnny pulls on the door once more, and finally, the gap is big enough for him to fit through. He leans into the car, ignoring the glass bits that press into his clothes, his hands. The woman’s condition looks far worse up close, the blood bright and sticky and vivid, her eyes glassy.

"I'm going to move you," Johnny says, talking quickly in his adrenaline-fueled state, "You're...I know about you, so you'll be okay. Will it hurt if I move you? Will you be okay if I get you out?"

She nods slowly.

"But..." she falters, "But Taemin-oppa..."

"Shh. No. We're getting you out."

The woman looks distraught. "But he's going to be so angr-"

"Enough," Johnny shushes.

He eases her legs out from under the ruined dash, and she helps to scoot herself backwards out of the car seat. As Johnny expected, she doesn't have bleeding cuts or broken bones on her legs the way a full human would, after a crash like that. Instead, pieces of her exoskin are torn away to reveal cracked bits of silvery bionic engineering underneath.

And as Johnny wrenches her out of the car - God, she's really small - he can't feel a pulse. No heartbeat. When he hugs Amber, there's her steady heartbeat in her chest, like hugging another human. Not this girl. She's breathing, her mouth heaving as she steadies herself into Johnny's arms, but her chest doesn't rise and fall with the motion.

No lungs. She doesn't breathe.

Respiratory-Endocrine Development.

"You're a RED," says Johnny.

She nods again.

Johnny settles her bridal-style in his arms, which is easy because she's so tiny. Blood from the wounds on her head seeps into his jacket. He can't worry about that now, though. It doesn't matter.

"Do you trust me?" he asks her.

She has a faraway look in her eyes. "Ten. Left me. He left me here."

"He left me, too," Johnny says grimly. "Come on."

He carries her away from the wreck as fast as he can go, dodging the eyes of curious members of the public. People have stopped to watch the chaos now, delivery boys on their scooters, a few family cars full of peeking children. There's a decent-sized audience that's seen him carrying an injured girl out of a car wreck. As a police car pulls up to the crash site, Johnny reaches the sidewalk.

He can hear someone's confused voice behind him. "W-wait, she needs help! Where are you going?"

Of course, bystanders are probably suspicious. Anyone else, in any other scenario, would bring injured people to the paramedics, help them get to a hospital. But no one stops him, as he walks away from the emergency responders, deeper into Gangnam. No one grabs him, and no one else calls after him. So he keeps going. This woman is small enough that she would be light, anyway, but her bionics are so high-tech, the polyplastics and hybrid metals so hollow and light, that she's practically weightless in Johnny's arms.

"What's your name?" he asks her.

He's seen pictures of the RED androids, of course. But they all look so different from their profiles. Joy's hair was red in her profile picture, and she's brunette now. He can’t tell which of the other three androids this is.

"Wendy," she says.

Wendy.

"If you," she wheezes, reaching up to push her bloody hair out of her eyes, "On my right side, ribs, there's a chip. They can track me. If you break it..."

"Break it?" Johnny repeats.

They've made some distance between them and the crash site, now. No one is following them, and both the foot traffic and vehicle traffic have thinned out as they leave the main road and wander into the business and hotel area around Seolleung. They're leaving drips of blood on the pavement behind them; Johnny can see the Hansel and Gretel trail of it as he turns around to see if anyone is coming.

"Just crush it," Wendy insists.

"Will it hurt you?"

"It might," she says. "Break it."

So Johnny lets Wendy move his hand to the right spot on her side. It's a tiny square, already with a big divot right down the center. Johnny thinks it might be broken already. But she's urging him in her broken, soft voice, so he presses down on the chip, harder, harder until there's a sharp crack, and Wendy whimpers, muffling herself quickly in the filthy fabric of Johnny's jacket.

After the chip is broken, Wendy gets less clear, less sure of herself. She mumbles apologies into Johnny's shoulder as he walks them up the incline in the sidewalk.

"John Suh. I'm sorry. I'm ruining your clothes."

"Johnny."

She shifts. "Hm?"

"Call me Johnny."

"Johnny," she tests. "Johnny. I'm sorry. I'm putting you in danger."

"I'm always in danger these days," Johnny replies. "It's okay. You needed help."

And isn't that just Johnny's entire deal, lately? Someone always needs help. Jaehyun, or Amber, or Mark or Ten or Taeyong...Yukhei. Jungwoo. Johnny doesn't think he's been able to do much for any of them. For some of them, he's done nothing at all.

At least...this one person.

Johnny can help this one person.

"If I clean you up," Johnny says, mostly to himself, "We can get a cab."

He sets Wendy down on her feet, and she immediately sinks down to sit on the sidewalk, her legs all but collapsing out from under her. The damage must be pretty bad, then. Johnny prays that any passersby will just think she's drunk, not look too closely to see that she's doused in blood. He really doesn't need the trouble that would come from that.

He digs his phone out of his pocket, intending to use the flashlight to look Wendy over more closely, but his screen is flashing. Several missed calls. All from Jaehyun.

Not Amber. Jaehyun.

So Johnny calls him back, and Jaehyun picks up on the first ring.

"Johnny?"

"Jae?"

Jaehyun's voice is loud against a background of bustling noise, "We saw you on Naver, there's a car crash? Are you okay?"

"It wasn't me, it was the androids, I was just there. It's okay, I'm okay," Johnny assures him, feeling like he's saying too much and also nothing.

But Jaehyun still sounds panicked. "You're okay?"

"I'm okay."

"Where are you?"

Johnny looks around, grasping any landmarks that would be useful to locate him. "Near Seolleung. Toward the tombs?"

"We'll come get you," says Jaehyun.

"Not everyone," Johnny says, "I don't wanna make any more of a scene, I'm already trying not to stick out."

"Then I'll come."

"Are you at Amber's?" Johnny asks.

"No, we were transferring trains at the bus terminal and we saw a picture of you, with some girl."

Johnny tries to will some controlled urgency into his voice. "Jaehyun, I need you to listen to me, and not ask questions, in case some of our friends can hear us."

There's a moment of quiet from Jaehyun, and then it seems to click for him. "Okay, hyung."

"Buy me and you a change of clothes in the underground mall. I know the bus station has a shopping plaza. Just a hoodie or something, okay? And come to Seolleung to meet us," Johnny instructs gently.

"Us?" Jaehyun repeats.

"Us."

"Okay," says Jaehyun.

That perfect, smart kid. Johnny could kiss him. Uh...well…maybe not _kiss_. He can feel himself blush at the thought, and has to push past it.

"Okay. See you soon?" Jaehyun says.

"Yeah, Jae. Thanks."

He hangs up, and Johnny turns his attention back to his android companion.

Wendy is still bleeding, just barely holding herself up where she's sat on the concrete. She looks awful, but she's gazing up at him knowingly. Almost fondly.

"That was Jung Jaehyun," she says in her broken voice. "970214."

It takes Johnny a second to realize what she's saying. But then he catches up: that's Jaehyun's birthday. In six-digit format.

His android ID number.

That chills Johnny to the bone, knowing that SM had prepared an android file for Jaehyun, that it existed long enough for Wendy to know and remember.

"You like him," says Wendy. "Be careful liking people, Johnny Suh. They'll use it against you."

She delivers that line like some kind of awful prophet, and then her eyes roll back and she goes limp in a dead faint. Johnny hurries to catch her, and he can still feel her inner systems working, the soft hum of her processors. She's not dead, then. So Johnny sits beside her, props her up on his shoulder so she's not just lying there bleeding onto the concrete. And they wait for Jaehyun.

\----

When Jaehyun arrives, he's holding a shopping bag in one hand, and scanning the sidewalk frantically, walking as quickly as his long legs will take him without breaking into a run. The tense look on his face drops into earnest relief when he spots Johnny.

"Fuck me," Jaehyun breathes, hurrying to them.

"Great timing," Johnny quips.

Jaehyun looks at Wendy, dumbfounded. "This is one of the RED girls."

That's right, Johnny realizes, Jaehyun has seen the RED androids in the labs. Several times over. He even mentioned them before, the very first time he talked about being abducted by SM. A bunch of beautiful girls, supernatural, working in the labs where he was taken.

"She's the girl from the picture?" Jaehyun asks.

Johnny huffs out a breath, frustrated. "What do you mean, the picture?"

"While we were walking, Yixing-hyung was on his Naver explore page, and there was a community post about a messy crash in Gangnam. And there's a picture of you, at a car crash, with a girl inside the car," says Jaehyun.

"They were taking pictures of us?"

"Not your face or anything," says Jaehyun, "But we knew it was you from the back. And I guess she's the girl."

Johnny shifts Wendy over slightly to relieve his aching arm, and Jaehyun regards her with an expression of pity and mild disgust.

"God, she looks awful," Jaehyun says.

"She needs a lot of help, we need to get her home," Johnny says. "I wanna change her clothes so she's not all gross, and we can get a cab. Hopefully before it soaks through and makes a mess."

Jaehyun digs through his shopping bag, and hands Johnny a cheap pullover sweatshirt from the fast fashion shopping plaza in the subway terminal. Johnny takes off his bloodied jacket, and slips on the hoodie. He uses the dirty jacket to clean off his hands and face and neck, before turning to do the same to Wendy. Jaehyun helps, holding her up with gentle hands while Johnny wipes the drying blood off her face and arms.

The other sweater goes on Wendy, over top of her destroyed clothes. It's too big, and the sleeves flop down over her exposed bionic hands. It'll do, Johnny decides.

"Flag us a cab?" Johnny asks Jaehyun.

Jaehyun does just that. It takes a second for one to stop, because they are still in Gangnam, but eventually a silver taxicab stops and idles at the curb for them. Jaehyun talks pleasantly with the driver while Johnny maneuvers Wendy into the backseat, establishing their alibi like the quick thinker he is.

"His girlfriend is really a lightweight," Jaehyun is saying, as Johnny arranges Wendy so as not to get blood on the car seats.

The driver laughs good-naturedly. "And you're a good friend for picking them up. My buddies would have left me out to dry."

Jaehyun laughs with him, his exasperated but caring friend act played out to perfection, and they set off. The driver is even more jovial when he finds out he's making a good chunk of cash, bringing them from Gangnam to Jongno. At least for the moment, they're set.

Night has fallen by now, and the drive across Seoul is pretty. The whole way over Hangang Bridge, the city twinkling on both riverbanks, it's pretty. It's hard not to enjoy the wistful pull of the city view, to just take in the scenery as they travel. Johnny feels okay for a moment, even as he's gripping Wendy with one hand, making sure her hydraulics keep whirring and the circuits keep humming under her tattered skin.

They have the driver drop them off a short distance from Amber's house, in the shopping district that winds from Insadong up into the hills. Johnny dutifully scoops Wendy into his arms, and they carry her back to the house. The shops lining the street are open but not very busy. It's a school night, a work night, and even the tourists have turned in for the night.

"Sorry for panicking over the phone," Jaehyun says sheepishly.

Johnny shakes his head. "It's alright, I don't blame you. I haven't exactly been myself lately."

"None of us have," Jaehyun says. "That's no excuse to be mean to you."

"I've been mean to _you_ ," Johnny counters.

"Hard things are happening to us. Ridiculous things. It only makes sense that we snap sometimes," says Jaehyun meditatively.

"I'm still sorry."

Jaehyun nods. "Let's try not to snap at each other, then. I'll try to be more patient. And you can try to be more positive."

"I can do that," says Johnny, amused.

"I'm sorry, too," pipes Wendy, from Johnny's shoulder.

"Shush," Johnny tells her. "You're gonna start bleeding more if you move around and I don't want you bleeding to death on me."

"Don't say that to her!" Jaehyun chastises, scandalized.

Johnny laughs quietly, and they continue on.

They make it to The Mirror Room to find Yixing and Amber sitting inside the cafe in the near darkness, only the lights behind the work counter switched on. Both of them jump up and come to the door when they see the battered and bloodied android in Johnny's arms. Yixing swings the door open for them, since Johnny's hands are full.

"Wendy?" Yixing gasps.

Wendy cracks one eye open, and smiles when she sees Yixing. Her teeth are bloody.

"Oppa," she says, "Wow."

"It was Wendy in the crash," Amber says, connecting the dots quickly as always. "Was she driving?"

With a little nod indicating they should follow her, she leads the group of them back toward her house. They pass through the empty cafe, the mirrors eerie in the darkness, through the tiny stretch of garden that connects the two buildings, and into the house, uncloaked for the moment.

"Yeah," says Johnny, dodging carefully through the doorframe of the cafe, "It was Baekhyun, Ten, and her. They bailed on her when she crashed."

"She's not doing good," Jaehyun says.

Johnny carries Wendy into the house, and holds her still while Amber drags her wooden coffee table out from the living room and into the kitchen. Yixing comes into the room with a plastic tablecloth and a beach towel, and lays them out in layers on the table to protect the wood. At Amber's motion forward, Johnny lays down Wendy over top of that.

None of them are doctors. It's daunting to have a patient who's even partially human, laid out there. But two of them are robotics scientists, and the parts of her that aren’t human are robot. They'll make do.

Jaehyun takes Amber's phone when she offers it to him, and sets the house's defenses, switching on the cloaking and Faraday shelter. Johnny kneels with Yixing, settling Wendy on the table that will serve as their workspace.

"All of the blood is from her face and neck, places where she's still got human skin," Yixing says, after looking Wendy over with careful, searching hands.

Amber dumps an armful of ratty towels and old t-shirts onto the floor beside the table. "Better than paper towels. We can wet them and wring them out."

She runs one of the rags under the faucet, and tosses it to Jaehyun in exchange for her phone. He kneels beside Johnny, and with gentle hands, Jaehyun starts to clean Wendy up, wiping blood from her face and her hair. There's a cut on her face, over her cheekbone, deep enough that it might need stitches, although Johnny has never done those before and isn't sure how they would even do it. The other cut, shallower but messier and bleeding more, is at her hairline. But other than that, she seems okay on the human parts.

"Her legs are majorly fucked up," Amber reports, and then looks up at Wendy sheepishly, "Shit, sorry."

Wendy doesn't react. She's still drifting in and out of consciousness from the shock and blood loss, and it makes Johnny nervous.

"Luckily, I'm fully stocked with bionic repair parts and tools. Between the two of us, I think we can rebuild all of this. It won't be up to SM standards, though," Amber smirks at Johnny, "It'll be better."

It's a little bit scary how thrilling it is to do this, Johnny thinks, as they settle in for what's bound to be a long, long process of rebuilding large pieces of Wendy's main frame. Since his experimental robot days in college, Johnny has only ever worked on piecemeal prostheses, just the individual units that will eventually go to users. This is like that, leveled up to a ten out of ten. Wendy is a whole person. The risks are much higher, but her false limbs are still essentially prosthetics. Johnny is in his element here.

Johnny and Amber peel back the exoskin on one of Wendy's arms, which is much less gross than Johnny had anticipated because there's no blood, only that spongy skinlike material covering her bionics.

One knee is crushed, and one arm needs to be restructured from the elbow down. Luckily, they're not working from scratch. All of Wendy's pieces can be reused, and Johnny has made dozens of these large joints in his own research.

As they begin to remove crushed pieces of tech from inside the exoskin, Wendy stirs.

Johnny looks at her, anxious. "Does this hurt?"

She shakes her head.

Good enough for him.

While they work, Yixing gets some simple food and water into Wendy. She doesn't have her biological lungs anymore, but she does have her digestive tract. Johnny's not sure how that works, since the body systems are all so interrelated, but he's not about to question it.

Wendy talks a little bit, answers some questions about herself. Jaehyun's insistent on keeping her talking and conscious, to make sure she's still with them mentally as Johnny and Amber peel apart fine circuits and shred her complex joints down to their bare parts. She talks about living in Canada, and in Minnesota, about being stage actress and singer before SM found her. She's delighted to hear that Johnny is from Chicago, and that he studied in Michigan.

They end up taking out that chip that Johnny crushed for her, because the jagged bits of it are threatening to poke through her exoskin. As soon as it's been removed, Wendy passes out cold.

Amber plugs the remnants into a card reader, but it's well and truly fried, and not even her custom worms can dig anything salvageable off it. There's probably something written into the code, Johnny thinks, that would have it self-delete in case of damage or removal, to avoid situations like this and protect SM's software and the data on the chip.

Johnny almost feels better about doing the repairs when Wendy is unconscious. She's alive, for sure, but out, and it's more like a real surgery when she's not talking to him. More like his old work on regular robotics, and less like fixing a person.

\--------------

It takes them almost two days to finish the repairs.

Amber and Johnny take turns sleeping, and Jaehyun and Yixing handle food and drink for the four of them. It sinks in, during one of Johnny's breaks, that they're really doing work to keep a person alive, which is terrifying. He's not a doctor. He never wanted to be a doctor. He's a robotics scientist. Androids cross that line in the strangest way.

But there's a weird kind of camaraderie about fixing up Wendy. Everyone in the house is on board, silently agreeing that this is one thing they can do right.

Wendy stirs a few times, during which moments the group gets her to eat and drink a bit more, but she doesn't rouse fully until right at the end of the repair process, when Johnny is running a final nerve test. He's sending artificial electrical pulses to her arms and legs, individually, testing that the limbs respond to stimulus correctly before he reconnects them fully to her central control system.

"I hate this part," comes Wendy's voice.

Johnny jumps, but when he sees her pouting at him, he smiles. "Well, good morning."

"I have a headache," says Wendy. "I hate that I can still have headaches."

"Do you remember what happened?" Johnny asks her.

"Car crash," she replies, "The Super M's left me in the wreck. You saved me."

"I guess I did," Johnny agrees.

Wendy just grins at him, teasing, "Big strong hero Johnny Suh."

But Jaehyun's focus is elsewhere, as he repeats, "Super M's?"

He's so quick, always catching things that the rest of them miss. That detail had gone right over Johnny's head, focused as he is with disconnecting his test set from Wendy's legs.

Wendy looks at him, her smile fading, "Yeah, the Super...Super..."

She trails off, looking bothered and a little confused, like even she doesn't know what she's saying.

"I had you break the SM override chip, didn't I?" she asks Johnny.

"I think it was already pretty broken, but yeah. You made me smash it," Johnny says.

Wendy nods. "That means SM has no GPS signals from me. And they can't do any motor or mental control. They can't make me do anything anymore. But I think it wiped some of my memory files...the classified things..."

"Well we have some questions for you, anyway," says Amber, joining them from where she was sat in the living room with Yixing. "Can we ask?"

"Let me reconnect her, first," Johnny says.

He snaps the last bit of exoskin into place on top of her frame, and closes the final circuit that should deliver electronic feedback from her brain to the bionics. Amber had rebuilt all the missing exoskin that was ripped from Wendy's hands, matching the color and texture to the rest of the original that's left. The new stuff is better, though. Stronger. Amber was right; on their own, just between the two of them, they've improved on SM's tech.

"Move your fingers," he instructs.

With a little zap of static electricity that makes both her and Johnny yelp, Wendy wiggles her fingers at him, and rotates her wrist in little circles. She moves her toes, rotates her ankles, flexes the balls of her feet. It all works.

"You did it," she says, sounding surprised.

"We're kind of good at this," Amber replies. "Do you wanna take a shower?"

"Thanks," says Wendy gratefully, "I'll let you know if anything leaks."

"Cool. Bathroom door is open, down the hall. Towels under the sink are clean."

Wendy goes off to shower, walking gingerly on her newly-built legs, but she makes it around the corner and out of sight with no problems. While the water is running, the other four have a conference in the kitchen, while Johnny begins to clean up their workspace.

"Why is she so normal?" Jaehyun asks, taking a handful of dirty rags from Johnny.

"I think the NCTs are the only ones who have permanent mental changes," says Yixing.

"Then why are Joy and Irene so fucked?" Johnny wonders, as he strips the towels off Amber's poor battered coffee table.

"More importantly," says Amber, "What the everloving fuck is Super M?"

"One question at a time," Yixing says.

"I think any control they had over Wendy got fucked when you broke that chip, Johnny," Amber says, "Now she's like us. Herself, with bionic limbs."

"Whatever she was saying about SM being able to force her to do things, they might have that system on the other REDs, too," says Jaehyun, with a glance at Johnny.

"I'm gonna go give her some clothes," Amber says, "She won't have any clean ones when she gets out."

She disappears into the back of the house to do just that, and Johnny and Jaehyun take a second to just...breathe. They exchange a glance, and it's oddly endearing to see Jaehyun look just as overwhelmed as Johnny feels.

"It's one thing after another for you boys, isn't it?" Yixing asks them, concern real.

"It kind of is," Johnny admits, "But she's our biggest break yet. She's one of them, you know? She's been on the inside this whole time, working directly with the company's information database."

"She knows something," Jaehyun agrees, "Even it's buried, she's seen it all firsthand."

"Can we trust her?" Yixing wonders. "She seems so normal but she's still SM technology, and she admitted directly that she was under their full control before."

"I took her all apart and put her back together again," says Johnny wryly, "I didn't find anything that SM could use to control her except for the chip, and that's gone. I think we can trust her."

"Really, though. What is Super M?" says Jaehyun.

"That's something big," says Johnny.

"I've never heard that term used before. NCT, yes, Super M, no. Is it a new class, you think?" Yixing asks.

"She meant all of them, right? Ten and Yukhei and Baekhyun?" Johnny muses, "That might explain why Baekhyun and Jongin are active, and not the other EXOs."

Yixing looks somber at the mention of his old android teammates, but he doesn't say anything else about it.

When Wendy and Amber rejoin them moments later, the aura in the house is markedly different. The air is more relaxed than ever. Somehow, this balance, the five of them together, it fits right.

The three androids, each with different ties to the company that created them.

Jaehyun, the level head.

And Johnny, the centerpiece that joins all of them.

They sit in Amber's living room. All of the seats are full now, Johnny, Yixing, and Wendy on the couch and Amber and Jaehyun in each of the two armchairs. That small satisfaction just adds to the feeling of completeness.

"Alright," says Wendy, "You said you have questions for me?"

She looks totally different clean and dry and comfortably dressed in sweats and a tank top loaned from Amber's closet. Her clean hair is just shoulder length, her bangs framing her round face. All of this, combined with her short stature, makes her ridiculously adorable.

And...familiar. She’s very familiar.

"I remember you," Johnny says suddenly. "You were in the building that night, outside Taemin's office."

"That was me, at the front desk," Wendy affirms. "I was a back-of-house personnel manager. You guys walked right into my work zone. They were so not happy about it."

"So you do remember some things," Amber says.

"Yeah, I guess. They wiped some stuff, but since it's gone I don't really know what. Obviously. You can just ask whatever," Wendy says. "I'll do my best."

"We got the files on the NCT class androids when we broke in that day. But we don't really understand what they mean," explains Amber.

"Oh, that," Wendy smiles, "That, I know."

"Alright, how should we do this?" Johnny asks.

Amber stands from her armchair and moves instead to sit at her desktop computer. She had added the NCT files to her stash on the older android classes once they'd settled back in at her house. It makes sense to keep everything in one place, and it makes even more sense for that one place to be Amber's custom-encrypted home computer.

"Let me just...add whatever you have to my file," Amber says, her hand moving quickly on the mouse and the keys as she searches.

"Sounds good," Wendy says.

"Alright, let's just go top to bottom?" suggests Johnny.

He's long since memorized the android classes that his friends belong to. Amber nods.

"Then, NCT U first," Johnny says. "We have the one-line description, but we don't know any details. Just...can you tell us what you know about them?"

"Easy. NCT U is Understanding," says Wendy, "The first step to a cohesive sensory-motor system replacement."

The way that she says it is so unlike the way that she speaks normally. It's as if she's reading a product advertisement. Johnny wonders if she's reciting the exact phrasing of the class descriptions, from files at SM. It sounds like she is.

"Those ones have replacements for their five senses. So they can take in sensory information with the new system," says Wendy, her phrasing more like herself again. "The Understanding nickname comes from their new superpowered ability to process info and understand their surroundings. All the names are like that, some kind of little quick reference."

"So...Understanding is an upgrade to the nerves," says Johnny, tensing up.

"Yeah. A complete nerve redo," Wendy nods, "I don't have that."

Johnny has a very bad feeling about this. The upgrade sounds familiar, much, much too familiar. But they need to move on, get the information from Wendy so they can decide on next steps. He can panic later.

"Okay, Element 127?" Johnny asks, trying to press down the nervous quiver in his voice.

"A chemistry and physics client team in the labs stabilized the superheavy metal element 127, unbiseptium. The element was put into nuclear batteries to power the androids beyond what their human bodies can handle," recites Wendy, "So they don't sleep or anything. They heal really fast."

"Why element 127?" asks Yixing.

"The lab tried a bunch of superheavy elements, going up the periodic table," says Wendy. "127 was the first one that worked."

"I don't even think there are 127 elements on the periodic table," says Jaehyun, puzzled.

Wendy gives him a wry smile. "You're right. There's 118 confirmed ones. SM hired experimental researchers and blew through 119 to 127."

"How they fuck did they discover nine elements without anyone knowing?" asks Johnny.

Wendy doesn't have an answer. She just turns that slightly sad smile on him, and shrugs.

"Moving on..." Amber prompts, "DREAM?"

"Creative tech. It enhances problem-solving skills and narrative creation," says Wendy, "Not to be weird, but this one is my favorite."

"It's another mental one," Jaehyun says idly.

Wendy nods. "If they see a jigsaw puzzle, they can instantly see where the pieces go. Or if you give them scrambled sentences, they can read the words in the right order and generate more sentences to continue the story on the spot. That kind of skill was considered just an innate human thing until SM got their hands on it."

The way she talks is still so unsettling to Johny. The information comes in these long, complex sentences that are so obviously just recitation from some source, and then she speaks again in her casual, informal construction. It makes her seem more like an android than any of the other human hybrids that Johnny knows.

"Last one, WayV," says Amber.

"Vehicular motion," Wendy says. "This one is kinda messed up, I think."

"More than the others?" quips Yixing.

"It's just weird. They're optimized for use with transportation enhancements. Hover suits, wheels, bikes, self-powered cars. Flight suits."

"They can _fly?_ " says Amber, aghast.

"Not on their own, it's super experimental," Wendy says, "They have these motorcycles without motors, like, just the bike frame? The androids can snap into the frame like Legos and use their own central power system to power the bike."

Amber types the last few pieces of information into her file, her fingers tapping loudly as the other four are silent. She sits back when she's done, just staring at the document.

"Damn," she says, "NCT class...is really fucking dangerous."

"And some people are in more than one class," adds Jaehyun, "So they're dangerous in more than one way."

They keep talking, teasing other bits of information out of Wendy and speculating further, but Johnny can't focus on them.

He's still hung up on a detail, and not a small detail. If Wendy's telling the truth, then the U upgrade is about nerves and an artificial nervous system.

Johnny's main research point at SM, the thing that he personally developed and tested to perfection, was exactly that. An artificial nervous system. He was under the impression that it was for surgeries, of course, for medical use. But still...

The realization of it all hits Johnny square in the chest like a kick. The upgrade that the U androids have... _Johnny_ created it.

And Mark, Ten, and Taeyong are all U androids.

One of the tortures that they were put through...one of the involuntary surgeries that slowly turned them from people into machines...it's Johnny's fault. Johnny put the pieces together and handed it to SM, and they used it to hurt his friends.

"What's wrong?" asks Yixing urgently, his sudden voice making Johnny jump.

He's holding Johnny's shoulder firmly, and the touch that would normally be grounding and comforting does nothing to help the panic rising inside Johnny. He feels so simultaneously empty and full, his chest tight like it's full of sand but a cavernous ache pulsing under his skin.

It's his fault.

"I invented the U upgrade," Johnny says simply.

"What?" asks Amber, brow furrowed.

"That was my speciality," says Johnny. "Nerves and nervous system development. I invented the U upgrade."

Wendy looks apologetic, but she's honest. "Yeah...you, you did, yeah. That's your tech."

Johnny honestly thinks he's going to fall to pieces. He's not sure if his outside matches his inside, but he feels cold and warm and nauseous and sore all over.

"You didn't know," Yixing comforts quickly.

"Calm down," Amber adds, and Johnny realizes he's quivering. "Lots of other people have been lied to by SM and had their tech taken. Like me. You're not responsible for what they do."

But Johnny is still upset, speaking through the threat of tears stinging his eyes, "But Ten and -"

"Not to be insensitive," says Jaehyun suddenly, "But there are a lot of people at risk besides those same three."

"W-what?" Johnny stammers.

Jaehyun stands up, agitated. "I said, lots of people have been hurt by SM. People other than Ten and Taeyong and Mark. And those other people all matter, too."

"Of course they do," says Johnny, surprised. "But I just -"

"You _just_ need to look at the big picture instead of focusing on them all the time." Jaehyun's voice is cold and unlike himself, staring hard at Johnny. "People matter even if you don't know them."

"What happened to being more patient?" Johnny snaps.

"What happened to being more positive?" Jaehyun retorts.

"It's hard to be positive when Mark and Ten and -"

"I'm sick of you focusing on them like this! They're not the only people who've been taken. Twenty people have!" Jaehyun says, voice rising, " _I_ have!"

"Why are you so fucking stubborn about this?!" Johnny yells, standing up to meet Jaehyun, relishing the extra inches of height he gains.

They're both shouting, and it's horrible. Wendy and Yixing wear matching expressions of shock, and Amber looks furious, like she's about to club them both over the head for having a shouting match in her living room.

But they're standing now, yelling, a foot apart, Jaehyun's face red and eyes cold, Johnny meeting his rage pound for pound.

"I'm just sick of it!" shouts Jaehyun.

Johnny seethes. "Why?!"

"Because I-" Jaehyun cuts himself off, glaring at a point just over Johnny's shoulder.

"No, say it," Johnny says, quieter, angry still dripping off every syllable and making him feel disgusted with himself, "Fucking say it."

Jaehyun is flushed pink right down his neck and on the skin disappearing into his t-shirt, a visual representation of the way he's steaming with anger inside. His eyes are narrowed still, hard and focused.

"Because I'm jealous," Jaehyun all but growls.

"Why would you be jealous of that?" Johnny spits.

"Because I'm fucking in love with you."

And Johnny's free falling.

What?

What?!

_What?_

"You..." Johnny's voice sounds a million miles away to his own ears, small and shocked. "You're what?"

"You heard me."

"Jaehyun..." Johnny falters. "I'm so...I'm so..."

Jaehyun makes a low, irritated noise in his throat, like a dog giving a warning growl before it bites. He grabs Johnny by the face, cups his face in both hands. His body language is angry and stiff, but his hands are gentle and tender where they caress Johnny's cheeks.

Then Jaehyun kisses him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a VERY important question for you guys, this time. For the next chapter...I may have outlined...*cough* a VERY NSFW scene that takes up, mmm, most of the chapter. Are yall okay with me going a little Explicit on this bitch? Or would you prefer I leave out the sexy and post that as its own outtake or something? 
> 
> Let me know what you think, okay? I was NOT planning on any sexytimes in this fic, they just...happened lmao and I need confirmation that yall would be okay with it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lotus can recover. A lotus isn't stopped or slowed down by anything. Rain rolls right off its petals. A flower that grows in muddy water, transforming filth into something beautiful.
> 
> I want you to be like that too, Johnny. Perfect. Like the rest of them.
> 
> (SM Entertainment Android AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi babies! 
> 
> This chapter has explicit sexual content, so if that's not your jam, I separated the parts before and after the actual sexual acts with a divider that looks like: ******** I figured that was more than fair, since this fic was NOT originally E rated and I know some of you didn't come here for that. I wanna honor that boundary for you. 
> 
> If that IS your jam, enjoy ;D it's not super wild but I think it really FITS these two, yknow?

They pull apart. 

Jaehyun rocks back, letting go of Johnny's face. There's some normal distance between them again, but Johnny is shell-shocked, frozen on the spot. He can just barely see their three friends in his periphery, and for some reason, they don’t look all that surprised. It’s only Wendy who has her hands clapped over her mouth in shock. Yixing and Amber are just looking on mildly. 

He wonders how long they’ve seen this coming. How long they’ve been noticing things that Johnny didn’t notice.

"We're gonna pretend that didn't happen," Jaehyun huffs, looking calmer and more centered than he has in days. "I'm sorry. I didn't ask for consent." 

"It's fine," Johnny squeaks, "It's okay." 

"No, it's not okay, I should have asked," Jaehyun murmurs back. 

Jaehyun touches his own lip absently, and Johnny tracks the movement, dazed. Jaehyun’s lips, that were just kissing Johnny. _Kissing_ him. The idea of it is ludicrous, but also satisfying and right in a way that settles heavily into Johnny’s bones. He’s still puzzling it all over.

Jaehyun is in love with him. 

Jaehyun is in love with him. 

_Jaehyun._ Loves him. His Jaehyun, his perfect wonderful understanding roommate Jaehyun, Jaehyun who trusts him and takes care of him and – 

"Is that…normal?" Wendy asks, very very quietly. 

"No," replies Yixing. "It was very exciting though." 

“Fucking idiots,” Amber mutters. 

Johnny knows what she means. He feels like a fucking idiot for not noticing how Jaehyun felt…after everything they’ve done together. How did he not notice? 

It’s a valid question, too. So many things suddenly make sense. The way that Amber seemed to assume from the beginning that Johnny and Jaehyun would share a bed, would have an intimate relationship, would want personal time and space. The way that Yixing was amused but not surprised by Johnny admitting his crush. Jaehyun’s jealousy, Johnny’s guilt at leaving him behind…

They’ve never wanted to be just friends. Maybe they’ve never even _been_ just friends.

"I see why the company wants him so badly," comments Wendy. "If he and Johnny have this kind of relationship. It makes sense." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" asks Jaehyun. 

Jaehyun's still breathing a little unevenly. Johnny is pretty sure that he isn’t breathing at all. The phantom touch of Jaehyun's gentle hands and his angry lips are still burning on Johnny's skin, distracting as all hell.

Wendy looks surprised at the question. "Well, they keep taking you, don't they? They've been playing cat and mouse with you for ages." 

Cat and mouse. Of course. 

Ten said it himself, in the car. Just a game, chasing and letting the prey go, catch and release for the sake of making a mess, generating terror. They’ve been playing that game the whole time, haven’t they?

"You’re Johnny’s friend. If you kept disappearing and coming back, eventually Johnny would notice. They really want his attention, at SM. They want him, so they used you," Wendy says, and though her voice is soft, the words are cutting. 

Johnny feels like he’s been thoroughly wrung out of emotions, spun and squeezed like clothes in a washing machine, but still, horror rises up in his throat as he takes in Wendy’s words. The idea that Jaehyun is really only in danger because of Johnny. 

If he didn't live with Johnny, if he had nothing to do with Johnny, he'd be okay. 

It makes Johnny sick to his stomach, to have that responsibility settled so firmly on his shoulders. He wants to run away, an itching feeling at the back of his brain to just…retreat. Run. 

He doesn't, not yet. 

He stands his ground, and watches Jaehyun crumble back into himself, the easy confidence he'd seemingly gotten back from the kiss melting away. Instead of steady and a little bit angry, he’s all cold disappointment.

Jaehyun laughs humorlessly, "And here I was thinking I was at least useful to them." 

Wendy looks apologetic, "It's not like-" 

"Like you said, Amber, they like people who're special. Or powerful," Jaehyun's voice turns deeper, more spiteful, "No, turns out, I'm just a tool to get to their favorite toy, John Suh." 

"You don't want them after you for real," Amber scolds, "Because if they were really trying to abduct you permanently, they'd have you, and that would be it. You'd be gone." 

"At least then I’d be brainwashed like everyone else and I wouldn't even know what had happened to me," Jaehyun says. “Anything is better than being tortured and released like a game animal. Even being dead.”

"Don't talk like that," Amber insists. 

"I can't listen to this," Johnny chokes, humiliated at how his voice quivers. 

He turns tail and heads for the guest bedroom that serves as his and Jaehyun's shared room, and shuts the door hard behind him. He can hear his friends talking, still, but Johnny just leans against the wall beside the closed door, pressing into the wallpaper just to feel the texture of it. 

He needs to calm down. He lets his head thunk hard into the wall. 

Jaehyun yelled at him. Put down Johnny's friends, who are all in mortal danger. Confessed his feelings. _Kissed_ Johnny. And then yelled some more. Jaehyun's really hurt about all of this, and it's all Johnny's fault. 

Everything is Johnny’s fault. He didn’t mean for it to be, God knows he wasn’t trying for it to be. But somehow all of this is on him. He’s at the center of everything. He doesn’t even know _why_.

He doesn't have long to stew, though, because Jaehyun busts into the room after him. 

"Why are you being this way?" Jaehyun asks loudly, to be heard as he closes the door again behind him. 

Johnny backs up a step, and another. "Because you just said you loved me." 

"I wouldn't have said it if you weren't so insufferable."

"I'm not trying to hurt you, you have to know that," Johnny pleads. 

"At first it was okay," Jaehyun says, "But then I realized these are all your exes. Yes, your friends, but also your exes. And that's so..." 

He trails off, and Johnny just waits. He has no idea where Jaehyun is going with this point. 

"The same things that happened to them happened to me. And you worry about them so much. And I'm just your roommate!" Jaehyun says, frustrated. “I wish you cared about me half as much as you care about them.”

Johnny doesn't even wanna begin to unpack that. 

"Jae, I've spent the last two days covered in some girl's blood and hydraulic fluid and grease, now is NOT the time for this," says Johnny. 

"Or now is the perfect time," Jaehyun replies. 

Jaehyun starts moving towards Johnny, closing that space that Johnny purposely made between them. There's an odd tension, Jaehyun having just admitted his feelings, and Johnny holding his own feelings back. As nervous as he is, Johnny knows he likes Jaehyun. Knows he liked that kiss, liked it far too much for how angry Jaehyun still is. 

Jaehyun's getting closer. And closer. 

He's so beautiful. 

Has he always been so beautiful? He's all narrowed eyes and plush lips, high cheekbones, messy hair. Masculine, hard beauty, lost in the boyish softness of Jaehyun’s cheeks and found again in the strong set of his shoulders. 

Johnny's mouth works before his brain. "Kiss me again." 

Jaehyun's expression is cold and superior, even as his eyes soften into the warm, gentle shape that usually goes with a smile. It's the way that Johnny imagines Jaehyun looks as an athlete, when he's swimming in a competition, when he’s on the block with the others. The face of someone who wants to win, and knows how to win. Someone who is going to win.

Whatever’s happening right now, Johnny has no doubt that Jaehyun is winning.

"Say that again," Jaehyun demands. 

"Kiss me." 

And Jaehyun does. 

Fuck, does he. He kisses Johnny again, harder and deeper, backing him up against the wall again. All of that cold fury from before flows out, and Johnny can feel the anger behind Jaehyun's lips, as they move against his own. 

But there’s also an undeniable heat to it, Jaehyun's hands trailing fire up Johnny's shirt and across his chest. Jaehyun tweaks Johnny's nipple with one thumb, and Johnny jumps under him. Jaehyun laughs at him, but it’s not mean. It’s fond, gentle. 

"You drive me crazy, you know that?" Jaehyun murmurs. 

Johnny makes a strangled little noise that doesn't pass as a response. 

"Johnny, so big and strong and charming. So well-spoken. Smart," Jaehyun hums, pressing another kiss to Johnny's lips before continuing, "But I moved in and found out you have nightmares, and like cooking big dinners, and paying more rent than you can afford so that I can pay less." 

The flush that creeps up Johnny's cheeks is embarrassing, but Jaehyun seems to relish in the response he's getting. 

"How could I not fall for all of that, together?" Jaehyun mumbles, "Towers over every crowd but can't even sleep a full night alone." 

Jaehyun stops talking to lick into Johnny's mouth, and that's burning too. Hot. Human. Real. Johnny has a flashback of cold, metallic, robotic, ice against his lips...not Jaehyun. Jaehyun is fire, inexplicably alive and alight. 

He's muscular and solid, bigger, taller than anyone Johnny has ever been with. He's got his arms wound around Johnny's neck now. And Johnny's never had a thing for hair-pulling, though Ten used to do it to him often. He always chalked it up to being a Ten thing. But maybe it's just a Must-Do-To-Johnny thing, because Jaehyun winds a big hand into Johnny's hair and tugs his head back, and then leans in to kiss down the column of Johnny's neck. 

Jaehyun's fucking ridiculous lips, and his teeth, and his tongue, all against Johnny's skin, biting and soothing. It’s nearly too much, just that feeling. 

"Everyone else is in the next room. They probably think we're still fighting," says Jaehyun, after a moment. 

"Are we not?" Johnny breathes, the first coherent thing he’s managed. 

Jaehyun laughs, warm air fanning across Johnny's skin. "That's a good point. We might be." 

Pulling away, Jaehyun turns to the door and opens it to peek into the hall. He looks back at Johnny mischievously, and then shuts it again, turning the lock for good measure. 

"They're gone," he says simply. 

"Did Amber take them outside?" Johnny wonders, "To the cafe?" 

"Who cares." 

“Do they trust us alone?” 

“Should they?” Jaehyun wonders, “Probably not.”

Jaehyun returns to where he was, pressed right up against Johnny, hands all over him. He turns Johnny gently, so he's not pressed to the wall anymore, and maneuvers the two of them back, back, toward the bed. When the back of Johnny's legs hit the mattress, he lets himself fall onto his back. 

With a deceptively innocent smile, Jaehyun scrambles into Johnny's lap. He leans down, caging Johnny in, and presses kisses to his face, his neck, anywhere he can reach. Johnny doesn’t know quite what he was expecting Jaehyun to do, but it wasn’t this. 

Because somehow these gentle presses, on Johnny's cheeks, on his nose, the softest ones on each of his closed eyelids, are so much more intimate than anything else. It's an apology, of sorts, for the chaos and the anger. Tenderness in its own special form, no words necessary. 

Johnny hopes he's answering in kind as his hands stroke up and down Jaehyun's back slowly, one hand at the nape of his neck, rubbing gently over the skin and the short hairs trailing off there. 

How could Johnny not have seen that this...this is what they both wanted. Sleeping side by side, holding each other…they liked each other the whole time. They were being intimate not as friends, but as tentative lovers, people exploring the boundaries between a new friendship and a blossoming something-more. Jaehyun certainly realized it, even if Johnny didn’t. He’s so stupid, for not seeing it.

Johnny says it out loud. "I'm so fucking stupid." 

He catches Jaehyun, kisses him again, repeats himself, "So stupid.”

Another breathless kiss to Jaehyun’s lips, "How could I not - of course you - Jesus fuck." 

********

He loses his train of thought completely, because Jaehyun is leaning back, fluidly pulling off his own t-shirt. They've been shirtless around each other plenty. In towels after a shower, in underwear first thing in the morning. Far more skin than this has been exposed around the house. 

But the context makes all the difference. The hard lines of muscle cording Jaehyun's chest, his stomach, the cuts of his abs and his hips, they're so wonderful as they flex under Johnny's roaming hands. 

"Can I..." Jaehyun asks, clambering backward, his eyes on Johnny's chest, "Your clothes." 

Johnny swallows, and nods.

Jaehyun reaches for the hem of Johnny's sweatshirt, and Johnny sits all the way up to let him pull it up over his head. Johnny has been more muscular before, more toned than he is now. It was better when he had a routine, the definition fading as he retreated from work and life and thus also from the gym, but there's still a shadow of firm abs, and his arms are bulkier than Jaehyun's. 

Jaehyun doesn't seem to care about any of that. He starts pressing Johnny back again, and Johnny moves to sit against the headboard, leaning into it, lounging. Jaehyun sits back on his heels to take in the view. There's just a touch of self-consciousness in Johnny's gut as Jaehyun's eyes rake over him. 

"What are we doing here?" Jaehyun laughs softly. 

"I figured you knew," Johnny teases, "You're the boss here." 

“No one’s the boss,” Jaehyun counters. “I’m not telling you what to do, and I’m not doing anything that you don’t want to do.” 

Johnny knows Jaehyun knows he was teasing, but the sincerity is so firmly Jaehyun that it aches. “You can still decide. We’re going at your pace. I’ll let you know if it’s not okay. You know I will.” 

"I want to see you," Jaehyun says, as if he's deciding it on the spot, "All of you." 

"Are you sure?" 

"Of course I am. Is that okay with you?" 

"God, yes, it is," Johnny confirms, embarrassingly honest, “We can…yes. Yes.” 

Jaehyun licks his lips, seemingly unconsciously. "Then, please." 

"Are," Johnny pauses, hesitates, "Are we still gonna be friends after?" 

It sounds silly and childish coming out of his mouth, but it's important that Johnny knows the answer. He has to be able to see Jaehyun again, to be around him if this doesn't work out past today. If they don't date. If they don't do this again. Jaehyun is his closest friend. He can’t lose that just because they fooled around once, when they were both vulnerable and angry with each other. Nothing is worth that. 

There's not a trace of doubt as Jaehyun just smiles at him, that thousand-watt, crinkly-eyed smile. "Yes. I promise." 

And, well. 

Jaehyun is always right. 

Johnny pops the button on his own jeans, drags down the fly. Raises his eyebrows suggestively at Jaehyun, which earns him a laugh and a playful slap on the leg. There's a moment of hesitation. Johnny wonders, just for second...should he give Jaehyun another chance to back out? Just to make sure Jaehyun isn’t acting on some kind of desperation, some desire to get Johnny to like him?

But Jaehyun is looking at him so hungrily, the arousal in his eyes stronger than ever, and that's as good an indication as anything. 

Johnny eases his underwear down with the denim, and his cock bounces free, mortifyingly hard and dripping precome already. Jaehyun swallows visibly, and it's the hottest fucking thing Johnny's ever seen. Suddenly, Johnny wants to see Jaehyun, too. It’s not something he’s considered before, really, but now all he wants is to make Jaehyun feel as wanted as Johnny feels right now.

"Just me?" Johnny teases dramatically, and Jaehyun looks up at his face, "Only I have to be naked?" 

As Johnny kicks off his jeans all the way and deposits them onto the floor, Jaehyun tugs down his sweats unceremoniously. He's got nothing under them. 

"Hey!" Johnny says, pretending to shy away, "Are you always commando?!"

"Usually," Jaehyun nods. 

"Ew." 

Jaehyun sticks his tongue out at Johnny. As Jaehyun moves back up the bed, Johnny can't be gentlemanly and hold back from looking anymore. Jaehyun's dick is pretty, just like the rest of him. Not as long as Johnny, but thick and pretty. Johnny's seen his share of dicks, and this might be the best-looking one. 

Jaehyun slots himself back into Johnny's lap, and the way he's sitting now, their erections are touching, and they both hiss at the contact.

It's second nature for Johnny to lick a dirty stripe up his palm, as Jaehyun groans at the visual of it, and wrap his hand around both of their heads at once. Johnny's got big hands, so he works both of them over like that for a moment, while Jaehyun whimpers in a way that is so unlike his usual deep voice. 

"You're sure this is okay?" asks Johnny softly. 

Jaehyun laughs. "My dick is in your hand and you're asking if it's okay?" 

"Yeah," Johnny says, "I don't want you doing this to, like…convince me that you’re into me, or just because you think I want to." 

Jaehyun's hazy eyes sharpen for a moment. "No, Johnny. I just want you. I want this. Do you-" 

Johnny strokes only Jaehyun now, one hard pump with a twist on the upstroke, and Jaehyun groans again, louder. It’s a good thing everyone has already gone, because they would undoubtedly know what’s happening. 

"Do you - shit, do you want this?" Jaehyun stutters out. 

Johnny kisses him again, lazy and soft compared to the pace he's working with his hand. "I want this." 

He takes both cocks in hand again, and his eyes rake Jaehyun's body as he jerks both of them off together, slow on the downstroke and firmer as he moves back up. The bruises and nicks all over Jaehyun's arms, his legs, his throat, are fading. There are a few deep scars that will last, but mostly he's coming back to himself, planes of uninterrupted tan skin.

Johnny leans forward to press gentle kisses against Jaehyun's neck, dragging his lips over the bruises as lightly as he can. It feels right, in his gut; kiss it and make it better.

Jaehyun hums into the pressure, reaching down to take Johnny's dick in his own hand instead, circling his palm over the head and working his fingers down the shaft. Johnny sits back against the headboard again, gasping slightly at the feeling of _Jaehyun_ working him over, and takes Jaehyun's free hand to press more kisses along his wrist. 

That's when Jaehyun seems to realize what he's doing. 

"Hyung-" 

It's strangled, partially with emotion and partially with arousal. 

"I hate these," Johnny mumbles, still holding Jaehyun's hand to his mouth like an old-timey gentleman, "I hate that they marked you up like you're some kind of toy. Something for them to play with and break and throw away." 

"Only you get to play with me," Jaehyun teases, still breathless. 

Johnny lets go of Jaehyun's hand and nudges his other away, taking over jerking them off together again. The slide is easy in Johnny's hand, precome mingling and making a slick, perversely satisfying squelch. Johnny can feel his orgasm building already, low in his stomach. 

But he answers Jaehyun, "Not even me. Don't give me that power." 

"No?" Jaehyun grins. 

"Nobody gets to mess with you," Johnny insists. "You're - fuck - you're like the strongest, smartest person I know." 

Jaehyun's cool facade is starting to break, and his breathing is off-pace, Johnny's steady hand beginning to push him toward the edge, too. Johnny gives him a stupid smirk, purposeful too wide and confident. 

"Also the hottest," Johnny adds. 

Jaehyun laughs again, full-bodied and loud, and Johnny loves it. He loves Jaehyun's laugh. He loves Jaehyun's body, pulled taut with pleasure, twitching under Johnny's hands. 

He loves - 

No. Johnny stops himself there. Enjoy this for what it is. 

He doesn't need to drag doubts or feelings or anything else into this, not right now. Not when he has Jaehyun in his lap, Jaehyun rutting against him almost unconsciously as Johnny works his hand up and down them both, Jaehyun pressing open-mouthed kisses on his face, his shoulders. 

He focuses on Jaehyun, his ragged breathing, the way his muscles flex under his skin. The warmth of him, the weight of him. 

There's something beautifully human about this moment. It tugs at Johnny's heart in the strangest way. After so many weeks of only thinking about the mechanical, of androids and piecemeal technology and pain, this. Just flesh. Just sensitive skin and pink-flushed cheeks and sweat, saliva trails from kisses, the overstimulated tears in the corners of Jaehyun's eyes. 

So human. So beautiful. 

Jaehyun comes first. Johnny knows he's about to because of how he groans, and collapses forward into Johnny, kissing him hard, moaning into Johnny's mouth as he comes all over Johnny's knuckles. 

And it's that feeling of Jaehyun's kiss-swollen lips against his, the warm filthy feeling of Jaehyun's cum on Johnny's cock, that makes Johnny come, too. He just manages to keep the rhythm over them both as he ducks down and gasps his pleasure into the crook of Jaehyun's neck. 

Johnny picks himself back up once he's spent, and they sit there for a second, forehead to forehead, just looking at each other. 

"That happened," Jaehyun breathes. "That really happened." 

Johnny pushes his slightly sweaty hair up off his face. "Is that, I mean, are you-" 

"It's fine," Jaehyun assures him, "Hyungie, it's fine." 

Jaehyun kisses Johnny gently, just a peck, and pulls away to fetch his t-shirt from the floor. He wipes himself off with it, and then begins to wipe down Johnny's hands. He does a lazy job of it, just getting the stuff that's threatening to drip and make a bigger mess. And then he lays down on his back beside Johnny, casual as anything. 

********

The atmosphere is definitely not uncomfortable. 

But fucking shit. Johnny just had sex with _Jaehyun_. 

He doesn't regret it. It's not that. Johnny doesn't feel any regret about doing this with Jaehyun, and he hopes that Jaehyun doesn't feel it, either. It's just...him and Jaehyun. Probably the most important relationship in Johnny's life, the one that means the most to him. And they've just changed it in a major way. 

It could be good. It could be the beginning of something new and wonderful that will be good for both of them. But as Jaehyun cuddles onto the bed, settling himself into the space beside Johnny, who hasn't moved an inch, there's a strange pit of doubt brewing in Johnny's mind. Not about the act itself, which still feels alright. He enjoyed it. He thinks Jaehyun did, too. 

As if he can sense that Johnny's thinking about him, Jaehyun murmurs, "Thank you." 

His voice is so deep and heavy. It's satisfying to hear. Jaehyun enjoyed it, too, then, if the way he's falling asleep by Johnny's side is anything to go by. 

Johnny definitely likes him. Maybe even loves him. 

It's a scary realization in its own right. Truly, he's only known Jaehyun a couple months. They were only casual roommates until a few weeks ago. 

And they've gone through trauma together. Isn't that a thing, Johnny wonders? Getting closer just because terrible things have happened? Building a bond based on shared pain? 

Johnny doesn't know. He hates that even now, he has doubts. After making a big step in their relationship, something mutual and pleasurable and nice, he's still doubting. He'll go to sleep too, he guesses. And just see what happens. 

\---------------

Johnny wakes up to the gross, sticky feeling of drying fluids on his skin. 

There's still a mess on his stomach, the things that Jaehyun didn't wipe up properly, a crusting-over reminder of their little moment earlier in the night. Jaehyun is dead asleep beside him. Johnny's still on top of the covers where he'd been, but Jaehyun is curled under the duvet, having crawled properly into bed at some point. 

Johnny slides carefully off the bed so as not to wake him, and shuffles across the room as best he can with that nasty sticky feeling all over him. He picks up his jeans, discarded on the floor, and slides his phone out of the pocket. It's only 1AM. Too late to get up and go do something, and much too early to call it morning. 

He puts his jeans back on, ignoring the way that the mess sinks into the fabric, and wanders to the door. The hallway is dark and quiet as Johnny makes his way down it. Yixing is asleep on the couch, a blanket draped over him. Wendy is nowhere to be seen, so Johnny assumes she's sharing Amber's bed. 

He makes it to the bathroom still in relative quiet, closing and locking that door for a moment of true privacy. Johnny's reflection is mussed and pink cheeked and tired, and he strips the dirty jeans back off. He runs a washcloth under warm water from the tap, and makes to clean himself off. The shower is loud, and it would probably wake up at least one of his housemates. Johnny doesn't want that. He wants a moment to himself.

As he's running the warm cloth over his skin, he starts to cry. 

It's one of those big, awful cries. The kind that starts with just one big breath, and breaks out into red-faced sobbing. He can't breathe well, and he certainly can't stop. He's choking on the feeling of it, heaving with the effort. 

Johnny's holding back all of the noises that he can, keeping in the sounds of it, but that doesn't stop him from stuttering in those broken inhales and does nothing to stem the ugly tears streaking down his face. Salt trails through the water as Johnny tries to wash his face, tries to wipe and press and urge away the mess. The occasional loud sob breaks through, frightening even him. It's like his body isn't his in this moment. He wants to stop but he can't. 

Wildly, Johnny tries to understand _why._

The feeling...it's not regret. 

And it's not anger. 

And not sadness. 

It comes to him, after a moment. It's fear. 

He's so scared. He likes Jaehyun. He really likes Jaehyun. And Jaehyun loves him. Not likes, loves. Jaehyun loves him. 

One thought comes through to Johnny, clear as day, excruciating in it's matter-of-factness: 

Johnny is a coward. 

He might be able to help strangers, sometimes. He helped Wendy, and for years he was happy with the belief that his work helped people in need. But the people he truly loves seem to end up getting hurt. It wasn't always like that. It shouldn't be like that. But it's true now.

That's been proven, hasn't it? He loved Taeyong like a brother, someone he grew up with, someone always in his corner. He loved Ten as a young lover, a first love, and then again as the closest, sincerest friend. And he loved Mark with the sparkling newness of a fresh new love. And look what happened to them. 

It's going to keep happening. It's going to happen to Jaehyun. It's just a matter of time until the same kind of painful fate that befell the rest of Johnny's loves comes for these latest. Amber and Wendy and Yixing will suffer for helping him, and Jaehyun will be lost. 

People will keep getting hurt because of him, and he will have to watch it all happen.

Johnny is a coward. 

It's like a mantra that he repeats to himself as he leaves the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, and sneaks back into the bedroom. Tears still pour silently down his face as he dresses in fresh clothes, dropping in big dark splotches onto the fabric of his t-shirt. He puts on a jacket, as an afterthought. 

His backpack, one of the things that Amber brought from their house a lifetime ago - truly only a couple of weeks - sits empty near the dresser, and Johnny begins to pile objects into it. His wallet goes into the front pocket. His laptop in the main compartment. A change of clothes. His passport. He jams it all into the pack. Everything that doesn't fit is just going to have to stay here. 

He looks at Jaehyun's sleeping form, and just for a second, he cries harder. One big sob rips out of Johnny's throat, and Jaehyun stirs. But he doesn't wake up. 

Johnny is a coward. 

He can't watch this happen again. He can't see this as it keeps happening. Whatever SM wants, they can do it without Johnny. They can keep hurting and killing people. Johnny isn't going to have anything to do with it. 

He leaves the bedroom, shuts the door, and heads to the front door. He's careful not to wake Yixing; if Yixing opened his eyes, he would see Johnny there, pack in hand, trying to leave in the dead of night. The front door creaks open, and closed, and Johnny is on the outside. 

The cloaking is still activated, so the image ripples and distorts as the door is latched shut again behind Johnny. When the panels recover from the motion, Johnny can't see the house at all. He couldn't find the doorknob without breaking the panels and shutting off the cloaking, and he couldn't break the panels even if he wanted to. 

He turns away, and walks off down the road, into the night. 

Amber lives in the shopping district that backs up to Gyeongbukgung, the biggest and grandest of the five ancient Seoul palaces, and that's the direction that Johnny walks. The sidewalk is empty in the shadow of the white palace wall, as he makes his way to the main road that crosses broad and sweeping in front of the palace gates, down the boulevard that was once the main street of the Joseon capital. 

The palace itself looms in front of him as he rounds the corner, lit up even now. History, stucco and stone and hand-hewn paving. Ancient things. Normal things. Johnny misses normal. 

He hails a cab, easy to do even at this hour, a bright yellow taxi stopping in front of him with a soft squeaking of brakes. The driver is kind enough, or maybe scared enough, not to mention the way Johnny looks. His red face, the tears, the way he's still breathing in gasps and heaves. 

"Incheon Airport, please," Johnny says, as clearly as he can. 

The driver nods simply and sets off. 

Johnny is a coward.

He's going home. To Chicago. He's going home where none of this will find him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a fuckin STRUGGLE, y'all. My writing motivation is declining as my mental health declines so :)))) 
> 
> I'll see you all soon for the next part~~ I love you~~


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lotus can recover. A lotus isn't stopped or slowed down by anything. Rain rolls right off its petals. A flower that grows in muddy water, transforming filth into something beautiful.
> 
> I want you to be like that too, Johnny. Perfect. Like the rest of them.
> 
> (SM Entertainment Android AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi babies! We are back, with some spicey content. In this ch, we validate my Taemin/Ten tag, fucking finally.
> 
> Trigger warning for all my emetophobic friendos, there IS some talk of throwing up toward the end.

The ride from central Seoul to Incheon Airport is about an hour long.

That's plenty of time for Johnny to overthink.

He wonders if he's made a mistake. It's easy to picture Jaehyun's expression when he wakes up to find Johnny gone without a trace. The idea of it is painful, to say the least. Jaehyun would be disappointed. Heartbroken. But Johnny has made a decision. If he went back, he would still have to deal with the fact that he left at all. The fact that it would be dawn by the time he reached Jung-gu again. His friends would find him locked outside the house, and he would have to explain himself regardless.

Maybe this is a bad choice. But he's sticking to it.

The cab driver lets him out at the Departures level of Incheon Airport Terminal 1. The man is still wary and slightly confused, the way he was upon picking up a weeping passenger in the dead of night, as he takes a wad of cash from Johnny and counts it carefully. He's kind, though, giving a little wave and a smile as he pulls away and leaves Johnny on the curb, still sans luggage and with only the vague outline of a plan.

Johnny makes his way to the standby counter for Asiana Airlines, to see about getting himself a ticket for the next flight back to Chicago. He dodges tired-looking solo travelers and an endless parade of luggage carts, children tagging along behind their parents in hats and pajamas and sandals.

The crowds make Johnny's situation look all the worse. There's something so distinctly wrong about being alone at an airport with nothing but the clothes he's wearing and a carry-on bag.

The woman behind the ticket counter is kindly and prim in her company uniform. She addresses him warmly as he approaches, and it's all Johnny can do to fight down the tears that threaten to spring up at her soft voice. He feels so stupid. Basic human kindness, making him so emotional. It's not normal, he knows that. But he's so strung out, so tired of everything.

"How can I help you?" the clerk asks.

"I need a standby ticket," Johnny says. "To Chicago."

"Time?"

"Soonest you can get."

She nods. "I just need a couple details from you."

The clerk takes his name and date of birth and a scan of his passport, and looks up the flight details for the day. She's so pleasant. It's nice to talk to someone normal and unrelated to the shitshow that is Johnny's life.

After a couple minutes of hemming and hawing, Johnny procures a one-way ticket to Chicago O'Hare, with a layover in San Francisco. He's eight hundred dollars poorer, but he's got the beginning of a plan now.

He doesn't have any bags to check, nothing else that needs to be done. The woman only gives him a bit of a strange look at that. So once the transaction is over, there’s nothing left for Johnny to do but wait.

He waits.

The airport chairs are stiff and uncomfortable like public seating always is, but Johnny has some time to kill. He wonders what his family will think, when he turns up at home again after all this time out on his own. His mom will be glad to see him, probably. He bets he can stay at home for a little while, until he figures out what he's going to do next.

He can work on moving on from whatever this is, whatever all of this trauma can be condensed into. This experience. This nightmare.

In the back of his head, that mantra resurfaces. Johnny is a coward.

Johnny is a coward.

He might really be one, too. But he's going to work on it. He can work on himself, once he’s out of Korea and away from the constant mortal peril, and eventually he might be able to forget about all the things that have happened to him here.

He waits in the terminal for over an hour. The sun begins to peek into the bay windows that stretch to the high ceiling above, illuminating the bright white interior of the airport. Dawn is coming. And finally, Johnny deems his flight close enough to departure to go through security.

It's just him and his backpack, but it feels just a little less wrong at this juncture. He gets through the line, his ticket scanned, his backpack in hand. The conveyor belt is empty, and he's unzipping his pack to pull out his laptop, the unbothered security agent waving him forward through the metal detector. It's unhurried, which is still an odd experience for someone who's grown up with the bullying hurry-up-and-shut-up mentality of the American TSA.

But before Johnny can set down his belongings on the conveyor, two men approach him.

They're airport staff, in the crisp blue uniform of airport security, nametags and radios clipped to their shirts. Both men are young, around Johnny's age, handsome and both shorter than Johnny is.

One of them, shorter and bulkier with a glossy black undercut, says to Johnny, "Sorry sir, you've been randomly selected for a baggage screening."

"I know it's inconvenient," the other guy adds.

He's got a high, nasal voice and shaggy brown hair, his skin a rich olive tone, and his eyebrow quirks mischievously as he regards Johnny. They make a striking pair, and Johnny finds himself just staring down at the two of them.

"You gotta come with us, though. We'll check your bag and give a quick pat down and you'll be on your way," the brown-haired guy says.

Johnny nods numbly, backpack open and clutched stupidly in hand.

Of course he's been randomly selected, in a security system where random checks are almost never random. Why wouldn't he be? Nothing is easy for him. It’s frustrating as a principle, but as long as he makes his flight to Chicago, it makes no difference to him.

The two men lead him out of the security line and over to one of the rooms marked for security searches. It's just a plain room, with a table and a few chairs and a metal detector wand on the tabletop. But instead of motioning for Johnny to sit, or taking his bag to search, or really doing anything, they just stand there looking at him.

It's awkward, and more than a little frightening. Johnny's still got his laptop in his hand, so he slides it back into his bag. They don't do anything to stop him, but the brown-haired guy, with his lilting voice, just smirks.

"So this is John Suh," he says, more to his companion than to Johnny. "He doesn't look like much."

Johnny's blood runs cold.

He looks up at the guy, and though Johnny had immediately thought of him as a man, it’s clear that he’s just a kid, his face still round with puppy fat. The kid's still grinning at him. It's a sharp grin, smart and conniving.

"You _are_ really fuckin' tall, though. Like, wow," the kid says.

Johnny turns toward the door instinctively, but the other man is leaning against it nonchalantly, blocking the exit. It's an easy gesture, not inherently threatening, but it reads loud and clear. Johnny is trapped.

"Really, Hyuck?" the black-haired man says. "You can't be subtle for one minute? We're supposed to be working, what's wrong with you?"

"You were thinking about it, too, hyung. He’s tall as hell. Who put a stick up your ass?" Hyuck sniffs.

"Taemin-hyung, if given half the chance," the other guy retorts.

Hyuck, if that's really his name, laughs, a loud off-pace kind of thing. If the fact that they knew his name wasn’t enough of a giveaway, now they’ve name-dropped one of the key people in this conundrum. Johnny’s been caught.

The black-haired one, the older one, pulls a phone out of his pocket and checks the screen. He taps at it for a moment, expression bored.

"That's Jongin. We should go meet him."

Hyuck sighs dramatically. "Alright, John. Time to go.

The kid rolls his shoulders back as if he's loosening up, preparing for a fight, and Johnny isn't even surprised to hear his gears turning with the motions, his android joints hissing.

"Taeil-hyung, a hand?" the kid says.

So the other one, Taeil, grabs one of Johnny's arms, and Hyuck the other, and they frog-march him out the door. They lead him away from security, away from his escape. Johnny tugs experimentally on the grip, trying to see if maybe he can use his height to his advantage. He’s a full head taller than both of them, and should reasonably be a little stronger.

But the younger one, Hyuck, says sweetly, with a smile and death in his eyes, "If you want to keep this arm attached to your body, I would suggest that you do not test me."

As if to prove his point, the kid tightens his grip, more and more and more until Johnny is gasping in pain under his breath. He’s an android, so Johnny wonders exactly how much he’s holding back. How easy would it be for this skinny kid to just snap Johnny’s arm?

"Be good," the kid teases.

And Johnny bites his tongue.

There's nothing he can do now, is there? All of their assumptions, the idea that Johnny was safe since SM seemed so fascinated with him...horseshit. He's caught now. They're taking him away, the way they've done to every other victim.

They walk him back to the entrance of the terminal, out those final sliding doors, where a car is waiting. It's the same kind of pointedly nondescript black sedan that took Jaehyun when he was playing bait those weeks ago. Johnny is pretty sure that if he Googled "average car," he would get a picture of this exact vehicle, from the tinted windows to the perfectly-chromed wheel rims.

Hyuck opens the door and slides Johnny into the backseat. Someone is already inside, waiting for him, and as Johnny folds his long limbs into the car, he's met with a wide, handsome smile. It's Jongin, that big solid guy from the SM compound. The EXO android.

He's in the window seat, so Johnny has to take the window, which is awkward and uncomfortable because he's so tall. Hyuck gets in on the other side, sandwiching Johnny in. Taeil slides into the front seat, and Johnny takes a second to regard the driver. He's another young man, a new one. He's small and mousy, and extremely calm given the circumstances.

"Okay, Renjun-ah," says Jongin, his deep voice calm and lazy, "Let's go."

With a soft affirmative mumble, the kid drives them off, and Jongin glances sidelong at Johnny, pressing right up against him inside the car.

"Tight fit," Jongin says wryly. "Sorry for the discomfort. But we couldn't risk you getting any ideas."

Johnny doesn't say anything. He wonders who would be stupid enough to try to fight off four other guys. Even if they're smaller, even if they’re not androids, that's not a good move.

Jongin continues, as if Johnny's silence doesn't bother him. "Shame you went to the trouble of buying a ticket. But we took care of that. Your money's been refunded. So don't worry about it."

"You think _that's_ what I care about?" Johnny asks, in spite of himself.

Jongin smiles at this. "Come on. That would just be unfair of us, to let that detail go. Give us a little credit."

"You're kidnapping me," Johnny says.

“That’s such an ugly way to say it,” Jongin muses.

“Why would I care about details when you’re kidnapping me?”

Jongin waves the sentiment away with his hand. "It's for your own good, Johnny. You'll see that, in due time."

The drive off like that, five full-grown men squished into a small car, almost humorously overcrowded as they jostle against each other. They cross the bridge that connects Incheon Airport to mainland Incheon. The salt flats shimmer in the sunlight below, the ocean water receding with the tide.

Johnny thinks suddenly about the violence that this bay has been. In history, in the Korean War especially, this bay was the way into Seoul, the way into the heart of the nation. He's taking that route now as a prisoner, of sorts. He thinks about the flight that he's supposed to be on, over the ocean, on his way to Chicago. On his way out.

Instead he's crammed between two androids in the back seat of a strange car. They're so close, pressing against him, but there's no heat coming off their bodies. They're cold, leeching the heat from his leg, the chill bleeding into Johnny's body.

They're always so cold.

\---------------

"You're quiet," Hyuck says, after some time.

He's talking to Johnny.

They've almost reached Seoul again. Johnny has been spacing out for most of the journey, staring out the front window at the lines on the highway, and the androids have left him to do just that. They've been talking around him, keeping up some kind of conversation in vague terms that Johnny can’t follow. But now the kid is staring up at him expectantly.

"I almost miss all the questions," Hyuck puts on an exaggerated high-pitched voice, _"How did you know where I was?! Are you following me?! Where are we going?!"_

The driver meets Johnny's eye in the rearview mirror, and Johnny can see the kid's brow furrow in annoyance.

"All the begging," Hyuck sighs, "I almost miss it."

"You're a real asshole, Hyuck," Taeil says.

"You love it," Hyuck replies. "We tracked your phone, by the way, John. Or Johnny, is it?"

Johnny glances sidelong at him, but doesn’t answer.

"We tracked your phone," Hyuck repeats. "We're always following you. And I'm sure you know where we're going now."

"Could you be any more of a liability?" Taeil complains.

Hyuck nods. "I could be. I could run naked through the streets with all my control panels open for God and everyone."

"I really hate you," comes a voice from the driver's seat, soft and husky.

There's a beat of silence, as Renjun the driver simpers in his seat and meets Johnny's eye in the mirror again, and then Taeil laughs loudly, while Hyuck squawks in indignation. Jongin just gives Johnny a little shrug, as if to say _"What can you do?"_ , and ignores the situation entirely.

Johnny does his best to ignore it, too, as Taeil and Hyuck bicker across him. Seoul rises up in the distance, tall buildings inching into view from the rolling hills that surround the capital.

They don't go into the city. They just skirt it, heading to the very edge to Seocho where the SM compound stands. Johnny wonders mildly if this will be the last time he sees the city as himself. If despite everything they thought they knew about SM and their plans for the androids, Johnny would become one of their creations, too.

In no time at all, they're at the gates to the compound. The kid drives them right onto the grounds, weaving in between buildings in the darkness, the way guided only by the headlights and the tiny lamps at the corners of the buildings.

They stop in a parking lot deep in the compound. A few other nondescript black cars sit around them, a fleet of surreptitious hulking forms. Renjun turns off the car with a flourish.

"Everybody out. I'm gonna bust my own eardrums if I ever have to do that again," Renjun grumbles, as Hyuck tugs Johnny out of the car. “You guys are so _loud_.”

This time, instead of walking him between them like guards watching over a prisoner, Jongin and Taeil set off ahead. Hyuck just holds Johnny's hand, threading his cold robot fingers through Johnny's. The action is creepy and playful in a way that Johnny doesn't like. It crosses that boundary of intimacy, a small action of familiarity that definitely doesn’t fit the situation. The entitlement of it turns Johnny’s stomach.

What if he doesn’t _want_ to hold hands like young lovers with an android that was made out of a kid?

They approach an open set of bay doors. It's the same warehouse that Jaehyun was in, Johnny realizes, that place he'd stood outside with Amber, listening to the androids inside. Hyuck leads Johnny inside, and he gets his first good look at the space.

Those doors open onto a huge workspace, open from the floor to the metal ceiling above. The first floor is littered with chairs and bits of machinery, and the upper level is a catwalk that circles the open center. It’s well-lit and grand like a stage, or maybe like the showroom of a car dealership. Johnny wonders exactly what happens there, what task needs space for an audience.

Hallways lead off deeper into the warehouse; obviously the big showroom floor is just the tip of the iceberg. There are people inside, too, a few women and a bunch of young men. The women are probably REDs, Johnny thinks. He doesn't recognize any of the men, but that doesn't mean that the ones he knows aren't around somewhere.

They bypass the big open space, no one in the showroom even sparing them a glance, and they lead Johnny deeper into the building proper. And as they go, Johnny's skin begins to crawl, prickling with recognition and adrenaline. They've entered a hallway.

A metal hallway.

Lined with reinfored metal doors. It's too clean, spotlessly clean like a hospital. All the windows are mirrored, so Johnny can only see himself and the three androids, as they lead him by hand deeper and deeper into the compound. Hyuck tugs him along merrily, unaware of what he's doing to Johnny.

This is the place from his nightmares.

It's exactly the same, down to the colors and the shapes. The sound of his feet echoing in the emptiness. He half expects to hear screaming. Mark's broken voice, calling Johnny's name. He half expects to wake up in his bed at home, at his apartment, Jaehyun waiting with hot chocolate or leftover pizza or -

He doesn't hear anything though. There's nothing but their footsteps, him and the three androids clicking and tapping their way down the diamond plate flooring.

They stop outside one of the doors. And that's different from the dreams. Johnny has never stopped before. He's always just running. He's never found out what's behind one of these doors. It could be anything.

But the door simply opens to reveal Taemin's smiling face.

"I thought you'd never get here," Taemin pouts, addressing Jongin.

"Quit whining," Jongin replies, "We made it, didn't we?"

Taemin simply shrugs. Hyuck and Taeil, for their part, just turn tail and wander away, back the way they came, still arguing with each other like they have been the whole time. They leave Johnny alone with Jongin, and now with Taemin. He finds himself missing the reassuring grip of Hyuck's firm hand in his. It wasn't comforting, but it was close enough to comfort that he could pretend.

"You're welcome to come in," Taemin says, to Johnny this time.

It sounds like a suggestion, but Johnny doesn't really have anywhere else to go, so it's more of a demand. An order. Taemin saunters back into the room, and Johnny follows, with Jongin bringing up the rear.

The room is a lounge.

There are plush chairs and sofas, upholstered in velvets and brightly patterned textiles. The tables and lamps are scattered to create seating areas with low lighting. Wildly, Johnny thinks that it looks kind of like a porn set. Incredibly atmospheric, detailed and meant to convey a very specific mood. What that mood is, he’s not quite sure.

And like an awful premonition from before, when Johnny wondered about the androids that he does know, the room is buzzing, full of people. There are a few pretty young men in the generic SM mold that Johnny doesn't know. More of the mysterious NCT androids. There are just so many of them.

But there's also Joy and Irene. They each have a highball glass in hand, filled with some amber-colored mixed drink on ice, leaning down over a coffee table as they pore over a tablet together. Yukhei is lounging in an armchair, manspreading like hell, looking sharp and so, so handsome. Yuta is there, too, on a sofa near the back of the room. His hair is still a white halo around him, floaty and feather-cut like a Disney princess, blindingly gorgeous even in this sea of beautiful people.

And perched on the arm of another chair is Ten, sitting prettily with his legs crossed in front of him.

Taemin goes over to that chair and sits down below Ten’s perch, settling himself artfully against the plush cushion. He moves in a fluid way that's absolutely unique. Johnny's definitely never seen anyone like him. And once Taemin's comfortable in his seat, he gathers Ten and slides him from the arm of the chair onto his lap. Ten settles against him with a smug little grin in Johnny's direction.

Ten, who's engaged to a billionaire heiress.

Ten, who crashed his car and left Wendy for dead.

He gives Johnny a little wave and a little wink, and then snuggles more firmly into Taemin. Like a lapdog. A pet.

"So glad you could make it, Johnny," Taemin says.

His voice matches his body language perfectly, light and pretty and graceful.

"Ten-ah never shuts up about you. I figured it was time to make you come visit us. Tell him, baby boy."

Taemin curls his finger under Ten's jaw and lifts his face to make Ten meet his eye, the way you'd examine a show dog, or corral an unruly child.

"I missed Johnnycake," Ten agrees, a hint of a whine in his voice, as if he's embarrassed by the attention but also relishing in it. "I could just eat him up, hyung."

Taemin laughs, again turning his attention to Johnny. "I can put this naughty kitty on a leash if you'd prefer, Johnny. He won't bother you."

Johnny just looks at Taemin, still standing just in front of his chair. He knows his eyes are wide and his hands are quivering, and he probably looks the exact kind of anxious mess that he feels.

But Taemin shrugs, as though this is answer enough. "Alright. Well, make yourself at home. I trust you won't do anything funny. I'd hate to have to _punish_ you."

Ten laughs gently, and Taemin gives a fake little gasp, a smile, going wide-eyed for effect.

"Well..." Taemin drawls, "Unless..."

The implication is clear, and whatever Taemin has going on with Ten, Johnny wants no part of it. So gingerly, slowly, inching himself down, Johnny sits on an unoccupied sofa. He's diagonal from Ten and Taemin, far enough that he doesn't have to stare right at them, but close enough that he can't be accused of ignoring them.

The two of them, as it turns out, are all but ignoring Johnny, instead. Ten and Taemin resume a conversation themselves, tuning Johnny out as if he's not even there. He wonders why they've just decided to all but ignore him. It's spooky.

It's a strange kind of free rein, a short leash that he's been given. They're not torturing him, or even bothering him. He's just been brought here and let out to run around.

So Johnny takes in his surroundings, instead. He takes in the decor, the furniture. Everything is sturdy and expensive in equal parts, the kind of stuff that costs a pretty penny because it lasts for decades. For a brief moment, Johnny meets Joy's eye, and she sends him a big beaming smile. It looks genuine, which is all the worse.

Johnny has never understood that saying about being in the lion's den quite as well as he does right now. He knows exactly what the people around him are capable of doing. He knows what they've had done to them, how traumatic the situation is for all parties. But he keeps scanning the room to keep busy, to keep his mind moving for the moment.

There on the wall, the same as in every room in the damn company, is a huge framed copy of Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics. But this copy is scribbled on, the way that a teenager would scribble in the margins of a boring textbook. There are lipstick kisses pressed to the glass plate of the framing, and big geometric drawings in pen and pencil all over the paper itself.

It's strange graffiti. Johnny would think that if they didn't like the piece up there, they would just take it down. And really, the laws of robotics are an apt thing to have in a room that seems to be the main lounge, the inner sanctuary for a group of robots.

But the most prominent piece of art in the room is a huge ink drawing of a lotus flower.

Something clicks into place in Johnny's mind when he sees it, a heavy realization that, yes, all of this is real. It's real, and it's connected. The Lotus Project is real. It's something that is truly happening before his eyes, something that was brewing under his nose for God knows how long.

Lotus. It's all back to this. Johnny's in the belly of the beast now.

"Pretty, isn't it?" calls Taemin from his chair, "Ten did that one."

Johnny realizes that he means the ink drawing. And once he registers Taemin's words, it's obvious. Ten is a talented artist, and the sketch is absolutely his signature black ink style, the lines thick and sweeping and imagery strange and geometric.

He glances back at the two androids, still sat together in their chair, and Ten gives a little hum of agreement.

"It's a little different from our real logo, but I think this one is better," Taemin says.

He presses a kiss to Ten's jaw. It occurs to Johnny, then, that Ten and Taemin are...something. Hooking up? Dating, in whatever way two androids, one of whom is definitely partially under mental control, can date?

The realization is gross, and hurtful in its own way. The way Ten talks and flirts now are exactly the same as the way Taemin had spoken to Jaehyun, and the way he speaks to Johnny now. Sexually aggressive and dominant, Taemin teases and insults and embellishes it with pet names and his dashing good looks. Ten was always a tease, but he was gentle and kind. It hurts to see him like this, just a copy of Taemin.

Maybe he's literally a copy of Taemin, now.

"You're allowed to walk around, you know," says Ten, looking at Johnny fondly.

Taemin nods. "I was serious. Amuse yourself however you want. Amuse yourself in the lab, maybe. I've missed playing with your creations."

Johnny's voice cracks, small and hesitant to his own ears, as he sputters, "My...my..."

Taemin just nods again, grinning like the cat that got the canary. "Of course. Anything interesting that you created would go to me, darling. The artificial nerves. The blood platelets, I loved those. Your work on joints."

Johnny's voice doesn't work at all, now. His research at SM was going right to _Taemin?_

Eyes glittering dangerously, Taemin regards Johnny with no small bit of pride. "You're very, very good at what you do, Johnny Suh. You might even be as good as me."

And suddenly, Johnny remembers. In a flood of recollection that nearly sweeps him away, he remembers what Amber told him about Taemin. That Taemin isn't just a pretty face and a loud mouth, isn't a figurehead or even a victim, like the other androids.

He's the original Lotus.

The very first human experiment, the first E.E. class android. The shadow genius of SM, Amber had said. He's a tech genius and a pioneer. Like Johnny is.

Johnny comes back to the moment as Taemin says something. He looks at the android blankly.

"Go play," Taemin repeats. "I think..."

He looks over Johnny's shoulder for a second, pensive. He hums to himself.

"I think if you got to know us, you would agree with me. That you belong with us."

It's a thunderous declaration, weighty and growing heavier as it hangs in the air over the lot of them. Taemin looks none the wiser about the accusation he's thrown so matter-of-factly at Johnny, and Ten is just lounging against Taemin with his eyes closed.

Johnny...belongs with them?

Taemin had said he could walk around, so Johnny does just that. He takes the opportunity to leave the room. He darts out the door, back into the hallway, hoping to calm himself down.

But he's a fucking idiot, because this is _that_ hallway. The one from his nightmare, that same recurring nightmare. It takes place here.

Here.

Johnny's breathing is ragged, and his head is swimming, and dumbly, Johnny registers that he's probably having a panic attack. He crumples against the wall, the metal cool against his back, as he just stands there in the hallway, letting the waves of anxiety wash over him.

He's not going to wake up from this. He's not going to find himself tangled in his sheets, a tired but kind Jaehyun there to comfort him. No cartoons on TV, nothing warm and pleasant to drink to calm his nerves.

Johnny isn't crying, but he's breathing in gasps in the same way that he does while crying. His chest heaves with the strength of the anxiety, the way that it grips at his ribs and claws up the inside of his chest.

And then. And then.

As if tearing out the worst image, the worst part of Johnny's worst nightmare, throwing it against the wall and taunting him with it, there's a scream.

There are different kinds of screams. There's an effortless scream, like when a child is playing tag and running away from their friends, screaming bloody murder in their wake, a screech of joy. There's an adrenaline scream, like on a roller coaster, an expression of emotion but not necessarily real fear. And then there's this.

This is a survival scream, the kind that hurts when it rips out of your throat.

The scream of a dying animal.

A cry for help older than anything conscious.

It makes Johnny's brain go haywire, his instincts tugging at him to fight or fly. The scream echoes from down the hall, repeating every few seconds, coming from the direction that the screams always come in his dreams. This time, it isn't Mark. It isn't a voice that Johnny recognizes.

But Johnny is a simple man. No matter how often he tries to change, if he sees a situation where he could, or should, help, he helps. He has to try to help.

His lungs are suddenly clear, his head eerily silent from the rush of pure adrenaline that shot into his bloodstream at the first utterance of a scream, his hormones clearing up his senses so that he can effectively analyze the danger than lies ahead.

He runs toward the sound.

The screams get louder as Johnny moves down the hallway, deeper into the building. He can hear it more and more clearly, the gasps that fit in between the deafening shrieks, and he can just barely make out some soft voices talking underneath it all.

Weeks ago, though now it feels like decades ago, Johnny told Jaehyun that he wanted to see the end of his nightmare. He always wakes up before the end.

Johnny thinks about that as he zeroes in on the door that's hiding the source of the screams. The hall still stretches a little ways back, this door just one of many identical metal doors. But the screaming is definitely from here. It's so loud, it makes Johnny quiver in his shoes like a prey animal, wanting to turn tail and run back the way he came. But he has to know.

He opens the door.

For all the noise and the buildup, the sight isn't exactly theatrical.

The room is set up like a doctor's or dentist's office, with one reclining examination chair in the center and counters along the sides. The walls are white, and the lighting is cold and harsh.

Laying in the exam chair is Jungwoo. The kid from the press conference.

But in the split second it takes Johnny to recognize him, he also realizes that Jungwoo isn't quite laying. He's strapped there, his legs and torso lashed down. He's writhing in pain, and as Johnny watches, he shrieks again.

He's screaming because there are two techs attaching a bionic arm into a hollow metal ball-joint socket at the juncture of his left shoulder.

The edges of the socket are red and raw, the human skin freshly sutured to a patch of false exoskin. The kid is conscious, fully conscious, and if his screaming is anything to go by, Johnny would guess he's not under anesthesia at all. One tech is holding the new arm, a sleek silver bionic, and the other is attaching miniscule false nerves into the loose ends of wiring that extend from the socket.

False nerves. False nerves that Johnny invented.

Amber said that she had four surgeries, one for each of her bionic limbs. She didn't say that she was _conscious for all of them._

This is at least the second one for Jungwoo, following the left arm that had been fresh and bandaged at the press conference. After a horrible second, Johnny wonders if he’s conscious here as a punishment for trying to help Johnny that day.

Johnny feels like he's been standing there for his whole life, but truly, it must only be four or five seconds. As he stares, the tech holding the bionic arm spots him.

And Johnny recognizes the tech, too.

It's Kun.

"Johnny," says Kun, but Jungwoo is still gasping and yelling so loudly, Johnny can only read his own name on Kun's lips, rather than hearing him.

The other tech glances up, and Johnny can see that he's older, maybe middle-aged. His face is weathered, aged, and he has thick glasses on. He looks sharp and human, hyper-focused on the task in front of him. He's probably not even an android at all.

"Leave," the old man says, loud and clear and calm.

Johnny's stomach heaves.

Kun, the same Kun who used to work elbow to elbow with Johnny developing fine motor joints and self-clotting platelets, straightens up more fully, looks Johnny dead in the eye. The front of his scrubs are covered in blood, some fresh and red and some a dark dry stain, and it makes Johnny feel even sicker. This isn't even the first person he's seen doused in Jungwoo's blood.

"Please go," says Kun, in his same old deep voice, polite and measured. "Please."

So Johnny goes.

He shuts the door behind him, doubles over, and vomits. As he spits and gags, Johnny is vaguely aware of how he's ruining the pristine metal hallway, staining the hospital sterility of it all. He sinks down to the floor, crouching, his arms around his folded legs and his face pressed to his knees.

That's where Mark finds him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friendly reminder, as one fan content consumer to another, make sure you're respectful when leaving comments. A nice piece of feedback/criticism/general screaming is always appreciated, but begging and pleading doesn't make updates come any faster :)


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lotus can recover. A lotus isn't stopped or slowed down by anything. Rain rolls right off its petals. A flower that grows in muddy water, transforming filth into something beautiful.
> 
> I want you to be like that too, Johnny. Perfect. Like the rest of them.
> 
> (SM Entertainment Android AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Android Mark is one of the most fun characters to write. He's so sad and he speaks like such a classic robot.
> 
> Enjoy, kiddos.

Mark finds Johnny curled into himself, seated on the floor.

He looks exactly the same as Johnny remembers him from last time they'd met, almost eerily the same, like he's a wax statue. The same cold expressionless face. The same perfect blonde hair. He wears a t-shirt, slacks, and a blazer, shiny shoes right next to Johnny on the metal floor. Johnny can't tell if it's the exact same outfit as before. It might be. It doesn't matter.

It's Mark and it's not, just like before. Just like with all of the androids.

He looks down at Johnny. No pity, no anger. Simply looking, like he's watching an uninteresting show on television.

"John Suh," says Mark, in that even, measured approximation of his old voice. "You have seen something you did not want to see. Not yet, anyway."

Johnny gags a little bit in his mouth at being addressed like this. He's never hated being called by his real name more than as these robots do it. But he looks up at Mark, and in spite of himself, in spite of the reality of the situation, seeing Mark's face makes him feel just a little bit better.

"Hi," says Johnny, weakly.

Mark tilts his head in surprise, like no one has ever spoken to him with normal words before, like he's never been bid hello in such simple terms. He seems to be processing it, thinking carefully about how he's meant to respond.

Slowly, so slowly that it seems like agony coming out, Mark says, "...Hello."

He looks down at the pool of vomit blankly, and the lack of reaction to it punctuates his utter inhumanity.

"Someone will clean that. Come," Mark orders.

He holds out his hand for Johnny, and Johnny lets Mark haul him to his feet. Mark is far too strong, and his hand is smooth and cold and unnatural. The touch is brief. Mark lets go of his hand right away, and they walk on slowly.

Mark saunters, and Johnny follows on weak legs.

"Taemin can be unkind," Mark says, "You should not mind him. He wants you to like him."

"I don't want him to like me."

"Hm. Are you okay?"

It's such a strange question.

"I'm sorry," says Johnny instead, though it's not a response.

He can't help but say it. He needs to apologize to Mark, for letting him become what he is now. Johnny could have helped him, if he had only known what was going on. If he had only seen it somehow, if he had been better or more attentive or smarter, stronger...

Mark looks at him, still so blank. "Why are you sorry?"

"Because you're...like this, now," Johnny says. "You're not yourself anymore."

"Myself."

Johnny nods.

"I am fulfilling my directive," Mark shrugs, very slightly, "If you want me to accept your forgiveness, I will."

"You don't have to," Johnny says, "I just need to be sorry."

"Alright," says Mark, and the way he drops the subject is so absolute, so mechanical.

"You don't remember anything, do you?" Johnny asks.

"Remember..." Mark repeats. "What is there to remember?"

Johnny's heart breaks a little. "Everything about yourself, Marky."

"Remembering...myself? I do not understand."

Johnny regards him fully. "You're different from the other ones."

Mark doesn't seem to have any self-awareness. Whereas Ten and Taeyong and the others are aware of their predicament, making light of it, or calling for help the way Jungwoo has done, Mark seems to know nothing about the state he's in. It's as if he's always been an android, as if he was never Mark Lee, the student from Canada, Johnny’s old roommate. He looks down at his body, and then over at Johnny, and shrugs again.

"I will assume that you are correct. But I don't know."

They've approached the door to Taemin's lounge again. It's open, and sounds spill from inside. Johnny can hear Ten's laugh, and a light airy thing that must be Taemin's laugh, mingling with it. They're joyous sounds, on the surface, but anything that can make those two happy is bound to be no good at all.

"I don't want to go back in there," Johnny says.

Mark just nods. "You do not have to. Taemin said you could move freely about the compound. So you may."

As though this permission is exactly what he was waiting for, Johnny keeps walking down the hall, until Taemin's voice is lost to the emptiness of the labs and the metal walls. Mark keeps pace with him, moving at a speed and a gait that would be unnatural, if his android body wasn't supplementing him to keep up with Johnny's much longer legs. They head back the way they came, back toward that main stage-like room.

"There's nothing good to see, here," Mark says dimly. "Wherever you go, you will be upset."

"That's okay," Johnny murmurs.

It's strange that Mark is doing so much talking. He seems so fully under outside control, so out of his own mind. But he's giving a running commentary that is almost more aligned with his old chatterbox personality. And yet, Johnny's secretly glad to be with Mark. Even if he's a shell of the person he was, it's easy enough to pretend that this is really his Mark.

This isn't his Mark. But he can pretend.

"Can you tell me about this place?" Johnny asks.

"No," says Mark coolly, "My directive is to make sure that you do not try to escape again. You already tried to escape the nation, John Suh. We could not let you do that again."

"Johnny," he corrects automatically.

Mark looks at him again, that full-attention stare that carries so much weight.

"It's Johnny," corrects Johnny again, a bit desperate and a bit sad.

And Mark pauses, and then says, "John...ny. Preference recorded, Johnny."

"Johnny-hyung," Johnny tries.

"Preference recorded, Johnny-hyung."

"Right," says Johnny softly.

The entry, that huge vaulted-ceiling room, is still all lit up. The bay doors are open, and sunlight spills in from the outside. It's almost strange to think that it's daytime. The things that happen are dark and mysterious. It seems that everything should be occurring at night. But he can see the buttery sunlight spilling in, the warm autumn breeze shuffling leaves into the warehouse doors.

People mill about the open workspace, those pretty young men and women that seem to fill every corner of this place. Some work at desktop computer rigs, humming with energy and speaking quietly to each other, and others are at long tables, fixing pieces of machinery and circuit boards. But their movements are small and measured, and they almost never move from the spots where they stand or sit or lean.

It's simultaneously a lot of activity, and none at all.

"Who are all of these people?" Johnny asks.

"I can provide an answer if you are specific."

Johnny decides on the spot, "The girls."

"Yeri. 990305," Mark recites, "And Seulgi, 940210. Support units."

Mark is just...giving him information. Not only names, but ID numbers and roles within the structure of the company. Johnny doesn't think he's supposed to do that. It's a flaw, for sure. If Johnny were to get out, he would know a lot about the inner workings, be able to point out personnel. That's a liability.

But as much as Johnny is ill and disgusted and scared, he's also more than a little fascinated.

He knows a lot about SM, a lot about their tech, both as a former employee and from his experience rebuilding Wendy. He probably knows enough to take Mark apart, right now, strip him down to his frame and dismantle the bionics to their component parts.

He wonders what would happen if he did that.

Could he take Mark’s bionics apart with his bare hands, the way he did to Wendy's broken and mangled parts? Could he strip down Taemin, split his circuits so that he never speaks in that soft flirty voice ever again?

Could he reprogram them? Could he undo what's been done?

Now, however, is not the time for those ideas.

So Johnny just points at a random boy working at a computer station, and asks, "Who is that?"

"Jaemin, 000813. Intelligence DREAM model."

"And next to him, there?"

"Renjun, 000323. Intelligence DREAM model," Mark pauses, "You have met Renjun before. Why did you ask?"

"To see what you'd say," Johnny replies.

"Is this a deception?"

It's almost like Mark is teasing him, though Johnny doesn't think he's quite capable of humor. It's unsettling.

"Just a question," says Johnny.

He points to another boy, standing at a long workbench and fiddling with what looks like a pair of boots with rockets strapped to the soles.

"Who's he?"

Mark follows his line of sight, and answers, "Yangyang. 001010."

"Why is he..."

"He is a WayV transport model," Mark says immediately, as though he knows exactly what Johnny was thinking, "Those are modifications that can be applied to his base form."

The kid, babyfaced as he is, catches Johnny's eye and gives a proud, almost manic smile. He points proudly at his rocket boots. Johnny gives him a weak thumbs up, and the kid returns to his work, looking satisfied.

"These are all androids?" Johnny asks.

"Of course," says Mark. "Neo Cardiac Technology class is extensive. Many subclasses. There are many of us."

Suddenly, Mark freezes up. He goes still, face alert as though he's listening to a sound coming from far away, or feeling a vibration in the earth. There are a few long moments of silence, and then Mark turns to face Johnny fully.

"Taemin wishes to see you again. You have been away from him for nearly two hours," Mark says.

Has it really been that long? Johnny doesn't know. But he knows he can't argue with the androids. He simply allows things to happen to him, passive and frustrated, as Mark ushers him back to that garish, cavelike little room full of androids and sex lighting.

When they arrive, Taemin looks like he hasn't moved a muscle, still in his chair cuddling Ten like a puppy in his lap.

"You're back," Taemin simpers, "Finally. Thank you, Marky."

Mark gives Taemin a curt nod and disappears deeper into the room to do God knows what. And Taemin, for his part, addresses Johnny again.

"I thought you'd enjoy that little blast from the past," Taemin says, his voice teasing and falsely sympathetic.

Ten nods his agreement, "I told you that Marky missed you. You should have seen him at first, when he came here. Yelling and screaming for you, like a little brat."

"You certainly made a big impression on him," says Taemin, glancing down at Johnny's crotch, "Big, I'm sure."

The sexual aggression is as unwanted and unsettling as always, but Johnny is focused on something else entirely.

"He was...yelling for me?" Johnny repeats.

"All the time," Ten frowns.

So it wasn't just a dream?

It wasn't just Johnny having anxiety and missing his friends. Mark was really calling for him, and somehow that energy reached Johnny. In his dreams, in his head. It was real.

"When..." Johnny starts bravely.

His tone must be very firm, because Taemin looks at him with a raised eyebrow and an intrigued expression on his handsome face.

"When did you finish making him like this?" Johnny asks.

"Marky?" asks Taemin innocently.

"Yes, Mark."

"Like what?" Taemin goads.

"You know what I mean," Johnny bristles. "How long has he been all robot and no Mark?"

Johnny's voice is harsh, he can hear it now. He's spitting the words at Taemin, and even Ten is recoiling from the sound of it.

"Oh...a few weeks? A few months?"

"I had nightmares," says Johnny, and his voice is quivering, not with fear but with rage, "I had nightmares every single fucking night."

He doesn't know why he's saying it. Taemin doesn't care. Ten might have cared once, but he doesn't now.

"I had nightmares for weeks of him screaming _my name_ and calling for help. And _you_ ," Johnny rounds on Ten, "And you, I heard you every single night, and Taeyong, and-"

Johnny cuts himself off, anger boiling up. He breathes for a second. Neither android moves.

"You're telling me I was listening to you having your-"

His voice breaks again. He doesn't know why he's doing this, why he's shouting at two beings that don't care, that are built from the ground up not to care about Johnny and his human feelings. But it's soothing an ache deep down in his chest, filling in a bit of the emptiness to lay blame where blame is due.

"Having your limbs cut off, no anesthetic," Johnny manages, "And replaced. Because you..."

Taemin looks mildly interested, and just the tiniest bit alarmed, as Johnny's voice builds.

"You wanted something to play with, you fucking psychopath? I had these dreams for _weeks_ and then they stopped. Did it stop when you broke them? Did I only stop dreaming about my friends screaming for my help because you stole their minds from them, you sick fuck?" Johnny spits, "You're disgusting."

Taemin looks at Johnny, his expression now deeply unimpressed.

"First of all, you're oversimplifying. Don't talk about things you don't understand," says Taemin, standing up and dumping Ten onto the seat cushion. "Second of all..."

He stalks closer to Johnny, moving like a cat, like a leopard stalking a poor stupid animal, backing Johnny up against the couch that sits corner to corner with the armchair.

"No one..."

Taemin gets closer still, chest to chest with Johnny now. Johnny is much taller, but Taemin's energy fills up the whole room, all the space between them. It's hard not to feel small in front of him.

“Speaks to me like that.”

He shoves Johnny squarely in the chest and he falls backward, landing hard on his ass on the couch. Taemin leans down over him, one knee resting between Johnny's spread legs. His hand goes to the back of the sofa next to Johnny's head, so that Johnny is caged in, sitting with Taemin leaning practically onto his lap.

"You speak to me respectfully, baby," Taemin says, "Or you don't speak at all."

He caresses Johnny's face with the back of his free hand, and then brings down the flat of his hand for a harsh smack on the meat of Johnny's cheek.

"I would hate to cut out that silver tongue, but I will if you force my hand. You can make do without it, hm?" Taemin hums, and then pulls back, leaving Johnny gripping the couch cushion and wincing away from the touch.

Ten is staring at him with sick delight, like maybe he'll try to climb into Johnny's lap next.

Taemin smirks. "Now that you're here, we might as well put you to work for us."

"I'm not doing ANYTHING for you," Johnny growls.

"You say that now," Taemin tuts, "But you're curious. I can see it inside you, Johnny Suh. You wonder about us. You want to know more."

“Fuck you.”

Taemin’s grin says more than enough.

As Taemin taunts him, Taeyong comes into the room. He gives Johnny a little grin, and joins Ten in the chair that Taemin has just vacated. They curl together in a way that makes Johnny ache with hurt and jealously, with the pain of abandonment. Beneath his anger he can feel it blooming, as Taeyong presses a kiss to Ten's cheek.

"We have more errands to do," Taemin comments lightly. "You know, we have a company merger, a romantic connection to uphold. Little miss...what's her name again?"

"Jiyeonie," Ten replies.

"She's not too happy about her dear betrothed. But she's going along with us like a smart girl, because she knows what happens if she doesn't. You should be more like her," Taemin says, giving Johnny a little wink.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter what you want," says Ten. "Hyungie figured it all out, you're coming with us on our next adventure. Like it or not."

\---------------

Eventually, the room empties out.

Johnny had taken refuge in the very corner of the room, on a lone sofa with a coffee table in front of it. At least if he's there, back to the wall, no one can sneak up on him. He only has to keep an eye out to the front.

Taemin leaves the room after a while, taking Ten and Taeyong with him. The girls leave, and the various boys follow in ones and twos, until it's just Johnny and Mark left.

Mark comes up to Johnny, his flat voice almost reassuring now. "You can sleep here tonight."

"Is it nighttime?" Johnny asks.

"I believe so," says Mark. "I do not sleep."

"Oh."

"We have not prepared quarters for your arrival, so you may sleep here."

"Okay."

Mark points to a door along the left wall. "There is a toilet there."

Okay," Johnny repeats.

Mark leaves after that. He has nothing else to say.

The room is still lit, but more dimly, as though someone has turned down the atmosphere for him, the way you would lull a zoo animal to sleep with manufactured nighttime. Johnny doesn't intend to sleep at all. It seems like a bad idea. There's no telling how he'll wake up, where or in what position.

But he can feel exhaustion pulling at his bones, so he gets up and pushes the couch in a one-eighty circle. The seat is pressed against the wall, now, the back shielding the seat from the rest of the room. It's a nest of sorts, a crib. This way, he can at least feel an illusion of protection.

He feels in his pocket for his phone, out of habit, and remembers that it's gone.

He had already taken everything out of his pockets to go through airport security, and once the two androids had gotten ahold of him, small things like the whereabouts of his belongings slipped away. He wonders if it's still at Incheon, waiting to be picked up. Or if the androids took it with them, when they took his backpack and his other belongings when they kidnapped him.

He wonders if he could contact Jaehyun from here, or Amber, or anyone. If it would even work. But it doesn't matter, really. Not if he has no phone and no way to get one.

So he just lays there, in his makeshift nest, in the dim red light.

\-----

And he must fall asleep, because he wakes up to someone shaking him.

Johnny cracks open one eye, and sees Hyuck, that kid from the day before, shaking him by the shoulder and wearing an expression of supreme displeasure.

"Wake up," says Hyuck, "I'm supposed to get your ass dressed."

"Dressed for what?" asks Johnny groggily, sitting up.

Admittedly, he's adjusting fast to his bizarre new life. He isn't even surprised at where he is, hasn't forgotten his situation during sleep. At least no one messed with him in the night.

The kid is looking at him, unamused. "You're going out with Ten-hyung and Taeyong-hyung."

Johnny just blinks at him, trying to catch up, and the kid sighs.

He speaks slowly and loudly, "You're JOHNNY SUH. I'm DONGHYUCK. You're GOING OUT. WITH TEN AND TAEYONG HYUNGS."

"I heard you the first time," Johnny grumbles, "But where exactly am I going with them?"

"That's for them to know and you to find out," Donghyuck replies, "Also, I have no idea. I'm supposed to put you in this suit, that's it."

He thumbs behind him at a garment bag draped over the coffee table.

"I can get myself dressed," says Johnny.

"I told hyung that," Donghyuck agrees, "But they think you need watching. You're a big fucking coward though, so I don't know why."

That word strikes Johnny right between his ribs. Coward. He's a coward. He must be.

That's why he's adjusting so fast, why he's barely bothered anymore.

Something in the back of Johnny's head protests that he's surviving, he's doing what he has to do to get out of here intact. But even this kid who's only met Johnny twice knows. He's a coward.

He gets up anyway. This kid has already proven that he'll hurt Johnny to get what he wants out of him. So he stands there as Donghyuck unpacks the clothes from the garment bag and lays them out.

The outfit they picked for him as a smart three-piece designer suit, a classic cut in flawless black fabric, and a crisp shirt in such a pale pink it might as well be white. There are shined dress shoes and even a pair of cufflinks.

Johnny situates himself in the clothes, which fit to perfection. He wonders how they know his measurements, but quickly dismisses the thought. He doesn't want to know. Donghyuck comes after him to coif his hair, and dab makeup under his eyes and brush out his eyebrows, color along his lashline with a brown pencil.

When it's done, Johnny looks in the mirror and is almost intimidated.

This person looking back at him, perfectly dressed and primped, looks powerful. In charge. He looks like he has an ego. Cold, and sharp. Like...kind of like the androids.

"Perfect," says Donghyuck, "Let's go."

\---------------

Being led around by android bodyguards, shoved into cars, and generally manhandled gets old really fast. It's exhausting to keep up with it, especially when so much of Johnny's mind is occupied already, thinking about his friends, or his ex-friends, or staying alive. Trivial things like that take up an awful lot of brainpower.

So Johnny doesn't feel bad when he tunes out the world for a while.

He follows exactly what the androids tell him to do, as he's packed into a car with Ten and Taeyong. A new kid is driving this time; he introduces himself briefly as Chenle, as Taemin gives him what seems to be a very stern and threatening talking-to. Johnny files the information away, the way he's done with all the other names that have been thrown at him, and blocks out the world again.

He comes to when they pull up at their destination, because it's such a surprise.

They're at the MBC headquarters, in Mapo-gu. The building cuts an imposing, unmistakable figure, two huge silver towers and a walkway about fifty feet up that connects the two.

"Why here?" Johnny hears himself ask.

"Don't worry your pretty head about it," Ten replies.

They pile out of the car, even the driver, who's quickly relieved by a valet staff. Johnny gets his first good look at him, and it's striking. He's small and slim, with a round little face. Johnny thought Donghyuck looked like a kid, but this one truly must be a child. Why are some of these androids so _young?_ Where does SM find them?

Two people come down from the MBC building to greet them. One is a support staff in a navy blue uniform, and the other is a woman in a skirt suit. She makes pleasant conversation with Taeyong as she leads their small group into the building.

They go inside, and the woman leads them up some stairs, through a door, into a small room with a corner set up to look like a living room. There are a couple sofas and a bunch of decor on the walls, bleeding into the room at large. The woman settles onto one of the sofas as soon as they reach that corner. It looks off, the whole room seems off, but Johnny can't put his finger on why.

At least, until more staff wheel a camera and a tech cart into the room.

"Is this an interview?" Johnny blurts.

It's a set. That's it. He's on a set.

The woman looks surprised, and laughs. "Is this your first time on a press team?"

Her voice is gentle and teasing, and Johnny can only hope that she isn't complicit in whatever is going on. That she's just being taken along for a ride like he is. It’s hard not to think that the entire world might be out to get him.

"He's new," Taeyong excuses, "He hasn't worked in the public part of the company until now. Back of house, yknow?"

"Don't worry," the woman soothes, "You'll do fine."

And before Johnny can react, Ten and Taeyong are arranging him on the sofa beside them. They sit pressed together, Taeyong closest to the woman on her own sofa, and then Ten, then Johnny last. The kid driver, Chenle, stands near the door to the room, as if to block Johnny from leaving.

The woman in the suit, Johnny realizes, has a very familiar face. Johnny stares at her for a moment until he realizes how he knows her. She's a news host, a television reporter.

"Wait," says Johnny, "Wait-"

But no one waits.

Someone from the group of staff begins to count down from five, and when they reach 'two,' the host smiles brilliantly into the camera.

"Thank you, Jongmyung. Good morning and welcome, everyone!” she beams, “Today I’m joined by Lee Taeyong from SM Enterprises, here in Seoul.”

She glances down at her cue cards while Taeyong does a perfect impression of a slightly embarrassed, good-natured publicity rep, right down to the sheepish smile and nervous blush.

“And of course, the man of the hour, Lee Youngheum, unrelated, also of SME. He’s the one you’ve heard about – he’s engaged to Lee Jiyeon of the Samsung Lee family,” the host continues, “And also joining us today is head of Research and Development at SME, Seo Youngho.”

Johnny doesn’t know what his face looks like in the moment, though he’s sure it must be awful. He nearly throws up again, right there on the news, as he processes what is happening.

He’s on the _news_ , being introduced as an SM employee. And he knows that for all intents and purposes, it looks like he means to be here. He ran away. Amber and Yixing and Wendy have to know that he’s gone, by now. They’re probably looking for him, and if they’re watching now…

They might think he’s joined SM voluntary, that he’s crossed over. That he’s betrayed them, become part of the enemy. Jaehyun must think….

Jaehyun…

_Jaehyun_ , Johnny thinks desperately. It’s not what you think.

"You know what, that is so wonderful," the host is gushing.

Time has gotten away from him again, Johnny realizes, as he refocuses on the other people in the room and realizes that the conversation has gone on without him. It should probably worry him that this happens so often.

They're talking about the wedding, Johnny assumes. The fake wedding, the sham of an android wedding that still makes no sense at all.

"You've dodged the question a few times," the host says, her smile mischievous, "But come on. Who's paying for the wedding? You'd think the bride's family would want a big affair."

Ten laughs, all charisma, and protests at her good-naturedly. Johnny looks on, while Taeyong grins sheepishly at Ten. He really looks. Just...takes them in.

And then it clicks into place in his head.

Of course, they would want that. The bride's family would want a big wedding because they're the Samsung Lee family, and they have more money than God. And if Ten marries into their family, he doesn't just get their money.

He _becomes_ a chaebol.

That gives Taemin and SM and everyone else involved a way into finances, into government deals, into politics. Into more money than a regular manufacturing and research company could ever dream of having.

"You're just after their money," Johnny says, his voice low and quiet but still plenty noticeable. "You....you want to be a chaebol, too."

Behind the camera, Johnny can see the cautious smile drop right off Chenle’s face, replaced with a look of abject horror.

Ten laughs again, big and fake and perfect, and says to the host, "Listen to him! He's been reading tabloids!"

And for some reason, as if she's also in on this big cosmic joke, the host laughs too.

"I've heard that one before," she says, "But talking to you now, I can see the love you have for Jiyeon-ssi. This is real, people!"

Taeyong joins in, for good measure, "He's so high-strung, this kid."

As the three of them make more smalltalk, poking fun at Johnny and his outburst, his moment of clarity, Johnny knows. He knows that he's right. Chenle still looks horror-stricken, and that along tells Johnny that he's right. The others might be playing it cool. But that kid looks as if Johnny has stepped right on the land mine. Somehow, all of this is about chaebol status. Money, and power?

Somehow it seems too simple. Far, far too simple. If SM wanted money, they could just marry Ten into the family and siphon money from the Samsung fortune to support their business. It's not kind, but it's simple. Embezzling is simple. Stealing is even simpler.

You don't need androids to do that. And yet, SM made them.

The interview finishes up soon after that. As the host bustles out the door, apologizing that she has another appointment so soon and can't stop to chat, the two androids turn on Johnny. They're frosty, angry in a way that they haven't treated him before.

"You sure have a big fuckin' mouth, Johnny," Taeyong says. "You can't lock that self-righteous shit up for one goddamn broadcast?"

"I was right," Johnny says.

"This isn't about right or wrong," says Ten, even though Johnny is certain that it actually is about that, "This is about the fact that we're doing you a favor, having you join up with us. We're helping you, and you're ungrateful."

"Come on," Taeyong grumbles, "We'll see what Joonyoung-ssi thinks about this."

Johnny doesn't know who that is, but he's sure that he'll find out. The two androids bid the MBC staffs a hasty goodbye, and Ten horsecollars Chenle and drags the kid out the door with them.

"You're in for a world of hurt, kid," Ten warns him, as they walk down the hall, "I'll try to help you but they sent you here on babysitting duty, and you fucked up big time."

Babysitting, Johnny wonders. What is the kid supposed to be doing, exactly? Controlling the situation? Controlling Johnny?

Did he put the kid in danger by speaking without thinking, back there?

He spares another thought for how he must have looked on TV with Ten and Taeyong. Johnny wonders if that arrangement was on purpose, to hurt Jaehyun. Ten and Taeyong, the ones that would bother Jaehyun the most. More than Baekhyun, or Yukhei, or probably even Taemin himself. The ones who hurt Jaehyun the deepest.

There's a weight in the pit of Johnny's stomach that feels suspiciously like regret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chenle stans, I am so so so sorry for the next chapter. So sorry.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lotus can recover. A lotus isn't stopped or slowed down by anything. Rain rolls right off its petals. A flower that grows in muddy water, transforming filth into something beautiful.
> 
> I want you to be like that too, Johnny. Perfect. Like the rest of them.
> 
> (SM Entertainment Android AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brain machine broke but we got there eventually!
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING: minor character death. Hold onto your tiddies, folks.

They sit in a little line on that big sprawling showroom floor, back at the SM compound.

It’s Ten, Taeyong, and then Johnny. Beside him, Baekhyun, Yukhei, Mark, Jongin. And finally, Taemin. The others are lounging in their chairs comfortably, all in a neat row, side by side. Johnny, for his part, is stiff and anxious. He feels like a show dog, or a prized cow at the county fair. In line for inspection with all these other purebred animals, even though compared to them he's little more than a mutt puppy born under the front porch.

He was ushered back to the compound without fanfare. The kid in the driver's seat was shaking and holding back tears as he drove them back across Seoul, weaving through traffic like a maniac and dodging stoplights wherever he could, all at breakneck speed. Johnny could see the fear in his eyes through the rearview mirror, clear as day. And even now, Chenle is cowering near their center lineup, just out of sight but not daring to disappear entirely.

Part of Johnny's mind is still worrying about that kid. It's almost more than he can manage, to think that something Johnny did is going to mean trouble for him.

And with the rest of his focus, Johnny wonders what exactly unites the eight of them, as they sit there in their even row.

Why these seven androids, and him. They're different classes, he knows that. Taemin is an E.E., Jongin and Baekhyun are EXOs, and the four NCTs. They have different functions, they've been active for different periods of time. What brings them together here, now, out of the dozens of androids that have been made?

They stay sitting like that until the men come in.

There are three of them, three men maybe in early middle age, that hard-to-determine adulthood age that could be twenty-eight or forty. Johnny thinks they look like executives, corporate professionals in sharp suits, perfectly pressed and wrinkle-free. They walk like men who think they own the world. Measured. Confident. Taking up as much room as possible, loud without saying anything.

They're not androids. They're humans. Johnny is certain.

The first man, tall and dark, looks at Johnny and only Johnny as they come to a stop right in front of the lineup. His gaze is appraising and calculating, like Johnny really is a dog on display, or maybe a racehorse, like this man is gonna open up Johnny's mouth and look at his teeth, check his coat for flaws.

"John Suh," the man says finally.

Johnny just regards him, feigning disinterest and hoping that it's believable. "And you are?"

The man smiles, a cold shark's smile, all teeth and intent. "Park Joonyoung. Nice to meet you."

"I doubt that," Johnny says.

"Taemin-ssi told me you were a difficult one. I can see that he was right."

Another of the men, this one round-faced with round glasses, the hair at his temples going silver, smiles too. "I don't think anyone has properly explained to you what we want, or why you're here. Allow me to do that."

As the man is talking, Johnny can see the catwalk above and the open area around them fill up with people. The other NCT androids, the REDs, they file into the space together. The room is crowding in, even as large as it is, dozens of androids all around. They lounge in the eaves like panthers in the treetops, lean on the work tables and against walls, just watching him.

Johnny's on trial, center stage. Anywhere he could turn, there are androids. He knows that if he tried to leave, made a break for the door, or even tried to fight one of these men head-on, the androids would stop him. They would hurt him, and they would subdue him, and they would do it all for the benefit of these three humans.

They shouldn't be on the side of these people who tortured them and made them into what they are now. It makes no sense to be loyal to that. They should turn on them like panthers, use all of that strength gifted through pain and take themselves back. But they side with these men, and not with Johnny.

"Do you know the lengths we've gone through for you?" the greying man asks, "We've done so much just to get your attention."

There is a very strange feeling crawling up Johnny's spine as this man looks him over. It's the feeling of being alone in the dark, walking alone in the woods, knowing that there are eyes watching. Knowing that there is danger just out of reach, and that the thing waiting there in the dark has the upper hand. It's dark water, deep enough that you can't see the bottom. The fear of the unknown.

It's the feeling that something is wrong. Deeply, deeply innately wrong. This man gives off that feeling in spades.

"We have worked for years developing the Lotus Project," says the man. "Our company has medical prodigies and robotics geniuses. We are decades ahead of any tech company on Earth, and we will stay that way."

Joonyoung nods. "But our greatest gain, and our greatest failure, is you."

"Me," Johnny repeats.

Him?

The greying man is staring at Johnny with a slightly crazed gleam in his dark eyes. "Can't you see how much you mean to us? The things you've done to help us in our quest to be _royalty?_ "

The last word rings in Johnny's ears, and he swears it actually echoes around the high ceilings, bounces and ricochets off the metal walls like a ball pitched with full strength. Royalty? What kind of _royalty?_ Having androids means...power? Political power? Money? Johnny doesn't understand.

"What," Johnny says, "What are you _talking_ about?!"

The greying man gives Johnny a sympathetic look, and simpers, "Johnny-boy. The Lotus Project is my wildest dream come to life. So much of what I needed to make this a reality came from you. From you, Johnny. You are the mind behind the greatest pieces of Lotus-class engineering."

Johnny is reeling, but the man just smiles at him, the mania in his eyes spreading to rest of his face, his voice.

"I'm sorry that we had to deceive you into doing it. But most people," the man hums, "Most people are afraid when confronted with the future. We did what we had to do, to make you develop and create at your full potential."

The man turns, speaking to his companions rather than to Johnny, though his voice stays loud enough to reverb throughout the room.

"Do you know one of the very earliest instances of bioengineering?" he asks, "It was waterproofing. Developed in ancient India. People saw that plants could repel water, and over time, developed that ability for themselves. And it was based on-"

"The lotus plant," Johnny interrupts.

It's as if his mouth is rebelling, joining the narrative without him.

" _Yes,_ " the man hisses, delighted, his back still to Johnny as he looks around the chamber.

The androids line the walls, lean on rails, staring down at the lot of them. Their expressions are cold, pricked with interest or intent. It's like being surrounded by cameras, or maybe by sniper rifles, red dots all over Johnny's body.

"And in our tradition," Joonyoung continues, his calm almost as jarring as his companion's maniacal energy, "Our stories, our art and faith, the soul of Joseon, the lotus is a symbol of creation, birth, and vitality."

"That made it the perfect symbol for our efforts," says the third man, "Because our goal...isn't destruction. It's creation."

Joonyoung nods. "We decided long ago that your role in this company can - and should - go far beyond technological development, Johnny."

It's the first time one of these men has called him by his nickname, rather than his full name, and it's worse, somehow. They shouldn’t feel comfortable with him. They don’t _know_ him.

"Your mind is invaluable to us," the third man agrees, "But you can rise beyond that, by joining our Lotuses completely."

"A lotus can recover," says the greying man, his voice growing louder with every syllable. "A lotus isn't stopped or slowed down by anything. Rain rolls right off its petals. A flower that grows in muddy water, transforming filth into something beautiful."

He turns back to Johnny, his face twisted, his eyes alive.

"I want you to be like that too, Johnny. Perfect."

He gestured to the room at large, the mangled and rebuilt figures of young men and women who were stripped of their humanity and turned into monsters.

Tools, for this man to use as he pleases. Crafted into perfection as he sees it.

"Perfect," the man says again, softer, lilting, teasing. "Like the rest of them."

Johnny has nothing to say. There's nothing to say.

He takes a moment to look back at the androids, still sitting in their perfect little row to either side of Johnny. Taemin is glaring down the line at Johnny almost jealously, and the other androids look blank, with the exception of Mark, who is looking directly at Johnny with his big round empty eyes.

They want Johnny...

Not to just create tech for the Lotus Project, like they've said before. They want him to BE a Lotus.

Be one, like Taemin. Like Ten. Like all of them. They want him to be an android too.

There really isn't anything to say to that.

So Johnny just stares up at him. This human, this man, a lined face and salt-and-pepper hair. He looks like any older businessman, like anyone. But the evil, the deception...everything that makes SM Enterprises what it is now...it's from him.

He's the evil.

"I can see in your eyes that you still don't understand," says the man. "That's alright. We have plenty of time, John Suh."

"You think," Johnny says, trying desperately to clear his swimming thoughts, "You think I'm going to _voluntarily_ become one of them?"

"Not just one of them," the man implores, "The greatest of them. You could lead them, for us, surpass any of the others. I want you to join the ranks of our Super M. The true Superhuman Machines."

"Super M," Johnny repeats.

He's heard that name before. Wendy mentioned it, but the meaning was lost with her broken SM computer chip, when her memories and her programmed functionality were erased forever. She called the androids that were in the car with her that night, Ten and Yukhei and Baekhyun, the Super M's.

That's it.

That's the connection. 

He looks down the row again at the seven of them. Three of Johnny's best friends. Two EXOs, one who was Johnny's friend and coworker, and one who is close to Taemin. Yukhei, who was a kind and genuine kid right until the last moment that he was in control of his own mind. And Taemin himself.

Always Taemin.

They aren't just EXOs, and NCTs. They're Super M class androids, whatever that means.

"You would be the greatest of them," the man repeats.

"I couldn't be," Johnny says.

He couldn't be. He won't be.

"We will give you time," the man decides. “You will make the correct choice when the times comes.”

Time. As if time will change his mind.

"As for _you_ ," the man turns on the android closest to him, the cowering figure of Chenle. "You failed me today, child."

"Oh come on, Seongsoo," says the last man, "No harm was done."

But Seongsoo looks dissatisfied. "Harm was done. Harm was certainly done. He allowed John Suh to act out of turn and put us all at risk. Speaking like that, on television? His job was to make sure that the press event went smoothly, and it didn’t."

"He's a kid," says the last man plaintively.

"He had a directive and he failed," says Seongsoo, still regarding the android. "You...disgust me."

And Seongsoo hits Chenle hard across the face.

The kid stumbles back, clutching at himself. There's no mark on his skin, but he's shying away from this man, scrambling over himself to make distance. His body language is much younger than he is, and it aches, to watch him run like a scared little child.

"That didn't hurt," Seongsoo chides, mocking. "If that hurt, you were made wrong."

"’Soo," Joonyoung warns.

Seongsoo ignores his colleague. "If a little smack like that hurt a Lotus, then you were made wrong. A mistake. And we don't need any mistakes on our team."

Joonyoung grabs his shoulder firmly, but Seongsoo doesn't let up.

"Are you a mistake, Zhong?" Seongsoo asks, "Are you?"

Chenle sputters something that sounds like an apology, but Seongsoo advances on him. He stalks toward a work bench, and snatches up a tool. Johnny can't see it, doesn't know what it is, but he stands up.

"No," Johnny says, " _Don't-_ "

Hands on both sides grab Johnny and hold him fast, Yukhei and Jongin, both supernaturally stronger than Johnny is. But he thrashes in their grip as the man approaches the android. Chenle's young, round face is pinched with fear. He doesn't move.

Seongsoo yanks up Chenle’s arms, raised as they are in self-defense, and cuffs them together with some kind of metal handcuffs. They spark when they make contact with the kid's bionic arms, friction off his frame even through the layer of exoskin. And once they're on, the kid begins to whimper, and then to beg.

And then to scream.

Those aren't just handcuffs, Johnny knows that. There's something to them, built into them, some kind of tech. It's hurting him.

"If you're going to be useless, you might as well be bound," Seongsoo spits.

He strikes the kid again, and Chenle goes sprawling into the shadow of the catwalk, out of view, shielded by work tables and racks of supplies.

Johnny can hear him gasping and struggling for a moment, and then a choking sound that shouldn't be coming from someone who is only partially human.

The kid doesn't get back up.

\---------------

Johnny stares at the ceiling.

He's in Taemin's lounge again, laying on his back on the floor. Their meeting, their audience with the SME executives, ended soon after the incident with Chenle. Johnny was sent back to the lounge to 'calm down' and 'clear his head.' And Mark was sent with, to watch him, since Mark is the only one who doesn't make Johnny angry beyond belief.

Somehow, Mark's sad emptiness is easier to process than everyone else's big exaggerated personalities, tainted as they are with Taemin's larger-than-life energy.

"Chenle is dead, isn't he?" Johnny says to Mark.

He's speaking quietly, so quietly that he's not sure if the android even heard him. There’s no reply for a long moment.

But finally, Mark says, "I do not know. The other DREAM units took him to their quarters."

He looks at Johnny with baleful, round eyes.

"I am a DREAM unit," he says.

"I know," says Johnny.

"I was not ordered to join them," Mark's brow furrows, "But perhaps...I should have..."

The words are strange to hear from Mark, in his flat robot voice. They're almost like regret, like an emotion. The only emotion that Mark has shown freely is anger. When he found Amber in Taemin's office, that was anger.

But this is another emotion.

Mark turns more fully to face Johnny, leaning down so that Johnny has to look at him head-on.

"You must not feel so responsible."

"But I am responsible," Johnny breathes.

"None..." Mark frowns, "None of this is your fault. You apologized to me many times. But you did not do anything to me. For much of the time, you were not even there."

"That's why I'm sorry," Johnny says. "I wasn't there. I should have been there."

“You cannot help things that you do not see.”

“But even when I see, I make the wrong choice,” Johnny despairs. “I mouthed off and got Chenle k-killed. I left Jaehyun and everyone behind. I saved Wendy, I guess, only to leave-”

“Wendy,” Mark interrupts, “940221. You…helped Wendy?”

It hadn’t occurred to Johnny that SME might not know where Wendy is, or that they might not even care. He was the only person on the scene that night who could have known about her, who could have taken her away without causing a scene. Her biosignature must have just disappeared, when her SM chip was broken, and the company…didn’t even care? He assumed they would know what happened to one of their own operatives, or at least would make a guess.

“She needed help,” Johnny says.

Mark looks troubled. “She is inactive. We assumed that she was…they told me…”

Do…do Taemin and the executives in charge of the labs lie to their androids? It makes sense to cover up some of the more nefarious truths, Johnny supposes, but something about lying to Mark seems disgustingly wrong. He’s so controlled, his memory wiped and actions dictated. He doesn’t seem to have the critical thinking skills to sniff out a lie. Like a young child, anything his carers says is law.

“They don’t know where she is?” Johnny asks him.

“I do not know. She is lost to us. Her chip is inactive.”

So they’ve just…given up on her?

Do they know that Yixing and Amber are with Johnny? Have they deduced that the five of them are a team, of sorts? Does camaraderie and chosen companionship even occur to people like this, so fixated on money and power?

"I do not remember anything about my past," says Mark. "But from your emotions now, and your actions that I have seen, I can deduce that you are always there for those you care about. You care a great deal, Johnny Suh."

Mark is still nearly doubled over, leaning down over Johnny, his wide blank eyes just staring. And from deep inside Johnny, a laugh bubbles up. He laughs until big tears collect in his eyes and drip down the sides of his face, running to splash on the carpet.

"What is happening?" Mark asks.

"Shit," Johnny gasps, still laughing and crying in tandem, in the same moment. "Fuck. How come even now, you can make me feel better?"

"I am simply saying what you need to hear."

"For a robot with no empathy or whatever, you sure are empathetic."

Mark blinks. "I do not-"

"Yeah, yeah, you do not understand. That's okay," Johnny says.

Mark just nods at that.

"Mark," Johnny says.

"Yes?"

"Who are the other DREAM units?"

Mark recites, "Jaemin, Jeno, Chenle, Jisung, Renjun, Donghyuck, and technically, me."

"So, six others," Johnny says.

"Yes."

"Okay."

Okay. Johnny knows now. He'll remember. He’ll make it up to the DREAMs for not being able to do more, for making these mistakes. Somehow, he’ll make it better.

\---------------

Business goes on as usual at SME, despite Johnny's new resident status in the compound. At least, it does as near as Johnny can tell. He's not sure exactly what the norm is here, but there is certainly plenty going on. He can hear near constant noise from the hallway, people talking and the sound of footsteps. Sometimes there's screaming, which makes Johnny cower into himself and try to disappear. He wonders if this is PTSD, what he's experiencing.

Some quarters, as Mark calls them, appear for Johnny rather quickly. They move him into a small room modeled like a studio apartment, or maybe more like a hotel room. He has a bed and a tiny wet bathroom, just a toilet and a sink and a showerhead meant to be used in the tiled room at large. It's just too small for Johnny; he's too tall for a lot of normal showers, too broad for a lot of small spaces, but this is ridiculous. There's a chair and a desk squeezed into the rest of the bedroom space. He doesn't really use them for anything, but they're there.

It's an odd stab at normalcy, to have his own space, even though he has none of his belongings and none of his friends.

But once he's in the new room, Johnny loses track of time.

It's jarring, how quickly hours melt together and his understanding of day and night disappears. The only thing that really lets him know how much time has passed is Mark, coming and going. He's seemingly been tasked with watching Johnny full-time. It's interesting, to Johnny, that even though Mark is in that little group of superpowered androids, he's almost always just...watching. He's like a guard dog, not a hunting dog. Johnny wonders why.

Mark doesn't sleep, and doesn't eat, unlike Amber and Yixing who do both. So most of the time, Mark is just sitting near him, beside him or somewhere in the room. Other androids deliver food for Johnny, and take away the empty dishes when he's finished eating.

It doesn't seem like it's been very long, considering the number of meals he's had. But that's not much to count on. They might not feed him very often, or maybe they bring more than three meals a day. Regardless, Johnny has well and truly lost track of time.

It's probably been a couple of days. No more than a week.

He just stays in that room, and thinks. Is this what prison is like? Is anyone wondering about him? He's an adult, it's normal for him to go a couple weeks without calling home, so his mother probably isn't worried. But his friends? His landlord? Is anyone still paying rent on the apartment that he doesn't live in, just a few short minutes away from here in central Seocho?

He's a missing person now, Johnny realizes about himself. Not only him, either. Everyone in this compound, spare the few who voluntarily joined for whatever sick reasons, are missing people too.

Johnny wonders what Ten's family thinks about this. What Mark's mom thinks. Taeyong's big sister, and his nephew. He wonders if his friends, his former friends, the androids, if they go home to their families and play normal to assuage fears. Or if they're just gone, like Johnny's gone.

Some immeasurable amount of time into his captivity, Johnny hears pandemonium. There's a smattering of shouts, and some crashing, and then eerie quiet for a moment before it starts up again. It doesn't sound too far from Johnny's room, hidden as it is behind one of the many, many identical metal doors down that nightmarish white and silver hallway.

Mark isn't in the room with him. There's no one watching, unless Johnny's on surveillance cam, which is possible but not a huge deterrent. It’s worth the risk. Johnny ventures out of his prison of a room for the first time.

The hallway is quiet, at least for the moment. There's no one around, nothing but the row of doors and tiny plated windows and the flat, cold blue-white lights.

But the noise kicks up again, the sound of running feet, a clattering of metal and yelling, and then a man emerges from behind a door and runs down the hallway towards him.

He's an older man, middle aged and unfamiliar. His eyes are wide with terror, reflecting the whiteness around them as he sprints at Johnny. The man grabs him by the shoulders, and his hands are shaking as he looks up into Johnny's face.

"You need to help me," the man pants, looking wildly over his shoulder, "Junhee, they-"

Johnny is pretty damn overwhelmed at the sight of another human being, so he stutters, "What...what..."

But they don't get much further, because down the hall after the man, so fast that he might as well have teleported, so fast that Johnny's eyes can't even keep up with him, is Yukhei. The kid is grinning sheepishly.

"You're slippery," Yukhei says to the man, "Hyung's gonna beat my ass for that."

Yukhei makes to grab the man, but there's even more of a disturbance from down the hall. It's Mark's voice, loud and echoing.

_"YUKHEI."_

And there comes a second man down the hall, about the same age as the first, with a purple welt on his balding forehead that's about the size of a fist. Right on his heels is Mark, running at normal human speed, though Johnny suspects he could go faster if he wants.

"You are supposed to be watching," Mark says, "Why are you-"

He catches sight of Johnny, and stops. Nobody moves, not Yukhei, not the two old men, and certainly not Johnny.

"You should return to your quarters, now," Mark says to Johnny.

"Who...are they?" Johnny asks.

Mark makes a tiny sound of annoyance, a tsk in his throat. It's bizarre to watch, unsettling after the endless confused calm. Mark is showing emotions, real emotions. It's the most human he's been this whole time.

He produces two sets of those cuffs from his jacket pocket, those same cuffs that Seongsoo used on Chenle. Mark darts forward and cuffs the second man's wrist to the handle of the nearest door. The cuffs snap together with a soft metallic sound that reminds Johnny of something...though he can't put his finger on what, and he doesn't dare get a closer look.

The first man takes advantage of his momentary distraction to take off running again, down the hall at a breakneck pace. Yukhei looks after his retreating form helplessly. Mark groans, but runs after the man himself. Yukhei, for his part, gives Johnny a half-smirk and a shrug, like something silly is going on. Johnny is about to start asking questions, when yet _another_ person joins the chase.

This time, it's Doyoung. Johnny nearly cracks his neck with whiplash when he catches sight of him. Doyoung, Johnny's old coworker, cat-eyed and dark-haired and exasperated as he ever was. He looks Johnny up and down, and sighs.

"I don't have time for this. Come on," Doyoung huffs.

He grabs Johnny and Yukhei each by the wrist and hauls them along after Mark and the man, leaving their second prisoner cuffed where he is. As they reach the end of the hall, opening up into the high-ceilinged entry, Johnny can see sunlight. He spares a moment to wonder if maybe they'll let him go outside...

But Doyoung stops short, and Johnny smashes into Yukhei, which hurts like hell, since the kid is mostly metal.

"I was wrong to bring you," says Doyoung, "Go back to your room.

"Why?" Johnny asks.

It's a dumb question, as is comes out of his mouth.

"Just go."

Doyoung begins to shove them back down the hall, but Yukhei resists, looking into the entry. His expression is satisfied, so Johnny looks too, over Doyoung's shoulder. He can just barely see a worktable, half-hidden in the curve of the room. There's a big off-white dropcloth falling over the tabletop, and beneath the fabric is a long shape.

A body?

Mark is talking to Irene beside the table, casual as anything. One of her small manicured hands is dripping blood onto the floor, stained red right up to the wrist.

"Come _on,_ " says Doyoung forcefully, and this time Johnny obeys.

When they get back to that spot in the hall where Mark had cuffed the man, he's gone. There's only the pair of cuffs swinging from the door handle, empty and innocent.

Doyoung and Yukhei are walking slightly ahead, certain that Johnny will follow, so he pauses a moment. He picks up the cuff where it hangs, and looks over the hinge quickly. They're magnetic. That's it. They're just magnet closures. But Chenle -

"I said, come _on._ "

Yukhei tugs Johnny away, slinging an arm around his shoulders like they're buddies, which the kid can do because he’s so tall. As Yukhei drags him back toward his cell, still chattering away at Doyoung, Johnny notices the blood.

There are flecks of it in the hallway, on the floors and the wall. They stand out against the sterile metal, dark red against silver and white, ugly and stark.

Both of those men...they killed them.

Johnny clings to the name he was told. Junhee. Junhee and....he doesn't know. He wishes he knew.

Yukhei and Doyoung deposit Johnny in his quarters without a glance back, shutting him inside like an unruly pet. For the moment, he doesn't even mind the treatment, his brain rushing ahead to think through what he's seen.

He remembers that news story from ages ago...it hasn't been that long but it feels like ages. During the press piece about Ten's fake engagement to the Samsung heiress, there was another tiny piece of news shared. An old man who had died unexpectedly...Seong...taek? Seongtaek. Lee Seongtaek. He was a Samsung Lee, in that same chaebol family. Ten is marrying a Samsung Lee.

It's all connected somehow. Those two men from today, and that one from before...the androids. And Johnny. It's all related.

What was it that Seongsoo said, earlier?

Royalty.

They want SM to be royalty. They fixate on the lotus flower, the idea of technological progression as a road to power, on the mythos of the flower itself. Their obsession with robots, their single-minded pursuit of the Samsung Lee family, one of the richest and most powerful chaebol families.

Of course, a person can't become royalty now. Not really. Especially not in Korea. There's no royal family, the Joseon empire that Joonyoung referenced so lovingly is long gone.

The closest thing now is being the face, the power behind, the family in charge of billions and billions of dollars' worth of the nation's GDP. Businesses aren't people, and they shouldn't be political forces, but of course they are. Being one of those gives a person near unlimited power. Police don't dare come after you, politicians listen to you, the public relies on you.

It's clear to Johnny now, and it's so simple, he should have realized it before. SM just wants to be a chaebol company.

And they're not gonna work for it, the way they could. They're gonna marry into it, threaten people into it, murder for it. Whatever it takes.

It's ludicrous. Johnny can't barely comprehend that this is their only motivation. They don't want world domination, or genocide, or even war. They've built robots and torn people apart and murdered innocent people and ruined Johnny's fucking life a hundred times over...for money. Fame and money, things that you can get with talent and hard work and fair play.

And suddenly, Johnny is furious.

He wants to destroy the room, send his fist through the drywall and break down the door. There's rage boiling under his skin, the kind that physically itches and demands attention. He's sure his expression is wild as he paces the floor, willing himself not to leave the room and do something he'll regret.

Everything that felt so far above his head, so complicated and messy, the idea of a company that he trusted creating androids and bringing science fiction into science fact...it's suddenly less of a monolith. It's not vague, it's not mythical. This is a company, run by people. Plain old greedy disgusting selfish people, who don't care who they step on or mutilate or kill to get to the top.

It's hard to fight a concept. It's easy to fight a person who has looked you dead in the eye and told you he wants you to become a robot to lead a robot army built out of your close friends and lovers into one-percenter economic glory.

Shame and disgust for the person he’s been the last weeks follow the rage as it wanes. Johnny knows he’s been a coward. And he was wrong. He left Jaehyun. He abandoned his friends. He let himself be captured. He wasn’t fast enough to help Jungwoo, and he hasn’t been able to help Mark at all despite seeing cracks in his brainwashed façade. He’s been selfish and cowardly and defeatist. Not anymore.

Three people are dead, just today. Dozens are trapped here, part robot, stolen from their families and friends and lives, turned into playthings for a bunch of rich old men who want to be richer.

Johnny created the Lotus tech. He can destroy it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Question, unrelated to the fic: do you prefer Kick It or Punch???? Personally, Kick It is currently my top kpop release of the year. But what about yall? Kick It or Punch?


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lotus can recover. A lotus isn't stopped or slowed down by anything. Rain rolls right off its petals. A flower that grows in muddy water, transforming filth into something beautiful.
> 
> I want you to be like that too, Johnny. Perfect. Like the rest of them.
> 
> (SM Entertainment Android AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back, inspired by absolute art that is NCT 2020, to give you more ;)

Johnny sits on his feelings for about another day. 

At least, he thinks it's about a day. They've brought him three more meals in the time since he was shut back in his room like an escaped animal. Mark never came back; he’s out there, Johnny has heard his voice a few times, but he hasn’t come to just sit with Johnny, like he had been.

So Johnny just stews there, alone with his rage. Time only solidifies his feelings - he's done being controlled. He's done being scared. He waits and listens, alone in his artificially comfy little prison, waiting for an opportunity. 

And finally, a breakthrough comes in the form of familiar, familiar voices. A whole chorus of talking voices, right outside his door. He can hear Yukhei's deep voice, and Baekhyun's, and Taemin's light simpering tone. It's the Super M's, then, at least some of them. Among the androids, these are probably the most useful to him.

So Johnny goes right up to his locked door, and calls out, "Hyungnim?" 

It goes silent. For several long seconds, there's nothing. But then the door swings open to reveal all seven of them peeking in at him, Taemin right in front with his hand on the doorknob. Johnny can't even begin to unpack his emotions at the sight of it all. Mark, Taeyong, Ten, Baekhyun, Yukhei, Jongin, and Taemin. All there, together. 

He just looks at them, keeping his face as neutral as possible, even as his pulse races under his skin. 

Taemin smiles. "Yes?" 

"Where are you going?" Johnny asks him simply. 

The others look a little surprised at his easy confidence. If they were any less self-assured, programmed to be anything less than perfectly in control, Johnny's demeanor should make them pretty damn nervous. But of course, they're not. Not even close. 

"We have an appointment," says Taemin, with disdain. 

"Can I come with you?" Johnny asks, letting the words tumble out of his mouth before he can even consider the consequences of what he's saying. 

"Why would you want to?" Taeyong asks. 

Johnny shrugs. "Your bosses want me to want to be like you, don't they? The easiest way to do that is to include me in stuff. Plus, I'm bored." 

He finishes off with a dumb, sheepish smile, one that he knows works wonders for the emotional manipulation, the kind of smile he would use on a professor to get a deadline extended. Can he even emotionally manipulate an android?

Baekhyun regards him with a touch of amusement. "I mean, if you really wanna come, that's fine. Suit yourself." 

Taemin nods his agreement. "Sure, whatever. Bring him." 

And Taemin just keeps on walking, chatting to Jongin by his side, as if Johnny was never there at all. It's Baekhyun who motions Johnny forward, slotting him into the middle of the group, behind Yukhei and in front of Baekhyun and Taeyong. As Johnny sets pace with them, he notices Mark at the very back of the group. He looks pensive, concerned as he follows his pack through the pristine hallway. Mark is showing more and more emotions, as time goes on, shallow as they may be. Johnny doesn't know if that's a good sign, or a bad one. 

Truly, Johnny can't believe it was this easy to get out. He's surrounded by the most powerful and most dangerous of the androids, so it's not like he's really free, but he's being allowed to witness more of the wheelings and dealings of the company. 

They walk through the showroom at the front of the warehouse, which is empty today, dark and quiet all the way to the ceiling. The bay doors are wide open, though, and Taemin leads their little parade outside. It must be around midday - the sunshine nearly blinds Johnny after all that time inside, in artificial light. He squints against it as he follows the vague shape of Yukhei into the office building across the way. 

It's that same building that houses Taemin's office, and the other admin offices for the android division. But this time, Taemin leads them down the hall on the main floor, to a small conference room. It's similar to the rest of the building, old wooden paneling on the walls and creaky floors. A long oval conference table takes up most of the room, surrounded by squishy chairs. 

It strikes Johnny for the first time, as they all settle into chairs around one half of the table, that he's taller and bigger than all of these androids. If he could shut off their super strength and speed, there's no way that even one of these people could fight him off. In a fair fight, he would win. It's a strange and inspiring thought, and one very much in line with his realization the day before. 

He can't be scared. Or, at least, he can't let his fear express in the way that it's been coming out up until now. Between fight or flight, Johnny has learned that he is a flight. 

But he can't keep running, not if he wants to get out of here in one piece, and prevent anything worse from happening. He had lamented, before, that it was a shame that the androids were just submitting, letting themselves be pushed around by the humans behind SM. How if they wanted, if they had the free will to decide it for themselves, the androids could easily turn the tables and escape. 

Isn't Johnny doing much of the same thing? 

Johnny's not an android. But he's not helpless, either. 

The eight of them lounge around the table, grouped together at one side of the room. There are two seats open at the very head of the table, and some more space at the foot, as if they're expecting more people to join them. Johnny just pretends to relax where he's been placed between Mark and Yukhei, and stares at the objects on the walls. 

Directly across from him is a decoration that doesn't surprise him, a piece of paper in a heavy brown frame: a copy of Asimov's laws. Every single room of the company, there it is. 

Johnny has read the laws before, has read them so many times over the years that he's sure he could recite them if pressed. But he reads them again to himself, just to pass the time.

_**First Law:** A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm._

Well, Johnny's never met a robot who follows that law. Certainly not here.

The door to the conference room creaks open, and in pops Irene, looking ethereal as ever in a pinstriped pantsuit, her black hair thrown over one shoulder. She has another woman with her, round-cheeked and pretty, and they take the two open seats at the head of the table. 

"Our guests are on their way," Irene says, by way of greeting. "Yeri will bring them" 

"How many?" Taemin asks. 

"Only the girl and her father." 

"Easy," Taemin grins. 

"Oh," Irene says, turning to Johnny, on her right, "This is Seulgi. I don't think you've met." 

They haven't, but she is one of the androids that Johnny made Mark point out to him, on the workroom floor. He recognizes her face. 

"Pleasure," says Johnny, voice dry. 

Seulgi smiles at him, a huge bright smile that makes her eyes disappear into little crescents. It's a lovely smile, and even considering who - or what - it belongs to, it still makes Johnny feel slightly better. 

It's surreal to sit there and listen to the androids making smalltalk. And they do. They're talking, Johnny realizes, about music. Baekhyun is rattling off his Spotify top 10 to an enthusiastic-looking Taeyong, across the table, while Yukhei interjects his comments from time to time. 

They're just...talking about music. They listen to music. 

Johnny swears he's having an out-of-body experience, trying to rationalize an android who almost certainly murdered someone yesterday, now gushing about Khalid. He can’t even imagine one of these androids, like, wearing headphones, just listening to some smooth R&B. It’s absurd.

Thankfully, Johnny only has to do those mental gymnastics for a couple moments more, until another woman's face appears at the doorway. It's the last RED android, who Johnny has seen from afar but never met. 

"Coming in!" she says, much too cheerfully. 

She doesn't come in herself, but she moves aside and lets in a middle-aged man in an expensive but ill-fitting suit and rimless glasses. Behind him follows a young woman in a demure black floral dress, looking like she would rather be anywhere else on Earth. Which is a reasonable way to be feeling, Johnny thinks. If only she knew the half of it. 

"Lee Jaeyong-ssi," says Irene warmly, "Jiyeon-ssi, hi." 

Her beautiful face and stately presence radiate out and fill the room like something physical, like smoke weaving around the table and casting a shadow across everything. Johnny suddenly understands why the company kept the RED class around for management and HR work - they're perfect. Charming. Effortless. Johnny knows exactly what their game is, knows that they were programmed to be this way, but even he is a little taken by it. 

Irene stands, hand outstretched, and the older man meets her for a handshake and a bow. 

"Thank you, Yeri," Irene says to the android at the door.

The girl nods and takes off, the gentle clicking of her high heels retreating down the hall. Lee Jaeyong sits down right away at the foot of the table, casual as anything, like he owns the place, and immediately begins speaking at Irene. The girl, Jiyeon, just stands there, her eyes fixed on someone. Johnny follows her gaze, and sees that she's practically staring a hole through Ten. She looks disgusted, but not at all afraid. 

It falls into place for Johnny, then. This is Ten's fiancee, Jiyeon the Samsung heiress, which makes this man her father, the Samsung CEO Lee Jaeyong, one of the most powerful men in South Korea, and honestly in the world, if people bothered to consider Korea a financial giant. 

Jiyeon watches Ten, and Johnny watches Jiyeon. She has intelligent eyes and a pretty face, her lip curled in distaste as she takes in the androids circling the table. The conversation goes on around them; it seems that nobody even notices two of their numbers completely checking out. 

"-A magnificent opportunity for press," Seulgi is saying, "It would be a bit of spectacle, but I think-"

Johnny doesn't know what she's talking about in the slightest, even though the Samsung CEO looks mildly interested behind his circular glasses. It doesn't matter, either. 

What matters, Johnny realizes, is that this is his first contact with the outside world since being taken captive. It's been days, maybe weeks, since he's talked to a real human who isn't part of the SM agenda. Two chaebols aren't the ideal first connection to regularity society, all things considered, but this is a real chance. If he can just get this girl to talk to him, _alone_ , he can have her go for help. Send a message to his friends. Make a phone call. Something. Anything. 

Johnny tunes back in when the old man scoffs loudly. Jaeyong is leaning back in his seat, looking distinctly bothered. 

"Since Seongtaek-ssi turned up at the trainyard, looking like-" he cuts himself off, glancing at his daughter, "Well, looking like he did, we've had a bunch of other missing persons. It's fucking ridiculous." 

"Missing persons?" asks Irene, doing a very convincing impression of delicate shock. 

"My brother-in-law Lee Junhee," Jaeyong lists, "And his business partner Kang Hyunsik. They went missing just the other day, after a family function." 

Junhee. 

Johnny feels like he's swallowed ice. Those are the men who tried to escape the other night, Yukhei's runaways, the men whose blood was splattered all over the hall.

This man Jaeyong probably doesn't know it, but his missing persons aren't just missing. They're kidnapped, and murdered, by the very people sitting around this table. The Samsung family must not know _anything_ , then. They’re totally buying into the idea of a company merger, no suspicion about these disappearances. 

"You know, this probably isn't a conversation for you to hear, Jiyeonnie," Jaeyong says, with another glance back at his daughter. 

Seulgi makes a sympathetic noise. "Your father is probably right. We can call a junior executive to show you around, if you'd like." 

"I'll do it," says Johnny. 

Irene and Taemin look at him with no small amount of surprise, twin expressions of amusement. 

"Sure," Taemin agrees easily, leaning in toward the old man across the table, like they're sharing a fun secret, "Youngho-ssi is new, this is a great chance for him to spread his wings. Show off his knowledge of the company, hm?" 

Johnny doesn't address his stupid, ingenuine praise, just standing up and edging out from behind the table as fast as he can. He edges past Jongin, past Baekhyun and Yukhei and out to the doorway where Jiyeon still stands, so uncomfortably. 

"Mark can go with you," Taemin adds. 

Shit. 

But Johnny can't really argue, can he? He nods, and all but pushes Jiyeon out the door with one firm hand as Mark stands up from his own seat. 

Outside the room, Jiyeon whirls right around on him, shrugging off his guiding arm, and Johnny pulls back, realizing that he's far too close to her. Personal boundaries are not something he's had the luxury of enjoying these days few days, but that's no excuse. 

"I can walk on my own," Jiyeon snaps. 

"I know, I know, I'm sorry," Johnny apologizes quickly. 

Jiyeon looks up at him with that same cocktail of disgust and hatred on her face, but when she truly meets Johnny's eyes, it melts away. 

"You're a person," she says. 

Johnny swears that he literally swallows his tongue, trying to sputter out a response to that. _"What?"_

"You're a human," Jiyeon repeats, "A person." 

"Yeah, yes," Johnny chokes, "And they're-"

"Not," Jiyeon agrees. 

"Yeah." 

"You actually believe me?" Jiyeon asks him. 

"Believe you?" 

"That they're not humans! There's something so, so wrong with that one. Youngheum. _I hate him,_ " Jiyeon says, dropping her voice to a whisper. 

With that, she sets off down the hall away from the conference room. Johnny goes after her, not much caring if Mark is following them or not. 

"I believe you. You're totally right," Johnny says, relief and excitement sending adrenaline thrumming through his body, "I can't fucking believe you know." 

"I know," she assures him. 

"How much do you know?" 

"They're weird and cold and that one in the middle, that Taemin guy? He threatened to kill my mom if I didn't keep my mouth shut to my dad about all this. So. I know enough," Jiyeon says. 

The front reception desk is empty again, and Jiyeon jumps right up to sit on the desktop, folding her legs and smoothing her skirt down between them. She regards Johnny coolly, as if daring him to counteract what she just said. He wouldn't dream of it. The fact that she understands that something is going wrong here is unbelievable. 

"Johnny-hyung?" comes Mark's flat voice from down the hall. 

"Right here," Johnny replies, not wanting to raise any alarms. 

If the androids think that he and Jiyeon are hiding, or plotting, then they'll never get to talk alone. Everything is normal. Totally normal. 

"Can I tell you what's going on?" Johnny asks her. 

She nods. "But you'd better give me the SparkNotes, there's someone coming." 

"They're robots." 

Jiyeon blinks at him. She doesn't say anything. No loud _'I knew it!'_ moment or anything. But there's a quiet pride in her eyes, a satisfaction at being believed and having her reality justified. She just lets a slow smile spread across her face. 

"I knew something was wrong with Youngheum." 

"Something is," Johnny agrees, "He's an android. They're all androids." 

"But he's the worst one. And I don't want to marry him," Jiyeon says. 

Johnny nods, "Well, yeah, because you're-" 

"A lesbian." 

Oh. 

Johnny was going to say 'a rational person,' but yeah, that works too. 

"Sure," Johnny cedes, "A lesbian." 

Mark chooses that moment to catch up with them. He rounds the corner and regards Jiyeon, perched on the desk, looking supremely self-satisfied, and Johnny's flustered enthusiasm. 

"We are supposed to be on a tour," Mark says. 

"I know, just getting to know each other," Johnny replies, "No need to go crazy." 

Jiyeon looks at him strangely, as if she can't believe that Johnny is so cavalier. Johnny isn't sure how to explain Mark to her. 

"He's different," Johnny says simply, "He's not like the others." 

"Is he...good?" she asks. 

"No," says Johnny, "Not yet. But he's not..." 

Johnny gestures vaguely, no idea how to explain Mark's strange disposition. He doesn't even understand it very well, himself, why Mark is suddenly able to show some emotions but still speaks like a retro cinema robot character. But luckily for him, Jiyeon seems pretty calm and accepting, a level-headed person even in the face of absolute batshit insanity. She kind of reminds him of...

Jaehyun. 

"So we can talk in front of him," Jiyeon says. 

"More or less," Johnny agrees, "He might snitch on us, but he's not gonna do anything." 

"We will begin the tour now," Mark says.

His expression is slightly puzzled, as much open emotion as he ever shows, and he leads them out the front door of the office building without another word. Jiyeon and Johnny fall in behind him, walking side by side. Her footsteps are loud, and Johnny looks down to see that she's wearing heavy black combat boots, with a thick tread and jingling zippers. Those, with her conservative and ultra-feminine dress, tells Johnny all he needs to know about her. The dress is all image, the future wife of a tech magnate. The boots and the smart mouth are all her. 

"What's your name?" Jiyeon asks him suddenly. 

"Oh," says Johnny, realizing that they never exchanged such pleasantries, "Johnny. Johnny Suh." 

"Johnny," she repeats, "Huh. Are you foreign?" 

"American." 

"Long way from home?" 

Johnny grins sidelong at her. "You have no idea." 

Mark is leading them back out from the depths of the compound. They're headed for the normal part, the labs where Johnny has worked, the admin buildings, the front offices that the public can access. It makes sense that they wouldn't give a random pawn in their plan access to the secret robot stuff. The very fact that they brought Jiyeon and her father all the way back to the android sector at all seems like a massive risk. 

"So, what are they doing with you, here?" Jiyeon asks. 

"Kidnapping me," Johnny says, all honesty. 

"Kid..." Jiyeon sputtered, "Kidnapping?" 

She slides her hand into Johnny's bigger one. It's a gesture of pure comfort; she doesn't even look at him, but she squeezes his fingers tightly, once, and lets go. 

"What day is it?" Johnny asks her. 

She tells him. 

Eight days.

He's been here eight days. He tells her as much. 

"You've been gone more than a week and no one noticed?" Jiyeon asks quietly. 

"They might have," Johnny says, "My friends. I think...I don't know if they're angry at me. I left them, it was a mistake. But they might still be looking for me. They might..." 

"Would they know where you are?" she asks. 

"Yeah." 

Johnny's sure of that. There's nowhere else he would be. He's not at Amber's, and anyone in the States can confirm that he's not there. When people in their world disappear without a trace, they're at SME. 

Jiyeon hums. "So if I told them..." 

"They would know," Johnny says. 

Mark takes them all the way to the front office building. It's the public front entrance, where Johnny came in on his first return to SME, that day a lifetime ago, when he first learned about the Lotus Project. The world is right there, right outside the front picture windows. Johnny can see it. The street outside, Seocho-gu only twenty yards away. Freedom. 

But it's not like he can make a break for it, not in present company. So he listens to Mark's droning voice recite business trivia at Jiyeon, and looks out the window. He wonders when Mark learned all this shit, anyway. What a waste of android data space. 

Johnny wishes he could just walk outside and disappear. 

It’s almost peaceful, for a few moments, just watching the occasional car pass by and enjoying the sight of sunlight streaming in the window. He's ripped out of that moment of peace by a high, nasally voice, dripping with aegyo, that hollers his name. 

"Johnny Suh!" 

Already fed up with whomever it is (not that there are too many possibilities for who it is), Johnny turns to find his airport captors, Taeil and Donghyuck. The former is holding two tall young men by the shirt collar, and the latter is waving enthusiastically. 

"I was worried that they'd chopped you to bits," Donghyuck says casually, "Good to see you're still around." 

"We are busy," Mark says stiffly. 

Interestingly enough, Donghyuck seems to...annoy Mark? Johnny can understand why, of course; Donghyuck is annoying. But to break through Mark’s cold, blank slate is truly a feat.

"I can talk to my best friend Johnny Suh if I want to," Donghyuck replies. 

"We're not friends," Johnny says. 

Donghyuck has the audacity to look put out. "Sure we are! We held hands for so long!" 

"Against my will," Johnny mutters. 

Jiyeon is side-eyeing Johnny again, and it's not a surprise that she is. Johnny isn't afraid of these fuckers anymore, least of all Donghyuck, who seems one good joke away from adopting Johnny as a pet. She must think he's absolutely insane. 

Donghyuck doesn't seem to mind Johnny's dismissal too much, though, because he turns right to Mark with an eager grin. 

"Hey, Marky-mark, great timing. We had a question for Taemin, but we can ask you," Donghyuck says. 

"Make it fast," Mark says. 

Casual speech, Johnny notes, impressed. He must really be pissed. 

"With these new recruits," Donghyuck says, waving a vague hand at the two boys, "Should we-" 

He continues on, but Johnny's brain has zeroed in and shut down. These boys that Taeil is horsecollaring...are new recruits? 

How new? 

Judging by their empty, fearful expressions, they're probably still mostly human. They might even be all human. And they certainly don't seem like volunteers, if Taeil's threatening hands on the back of their necks are anything to go by. 

It's like they're flaunting Johnny's failures right to his face. Look, two new human beings who are going to be mutilated with the technology that _you_ created, Johnny. Two people who will suffer because you didn't see that you were creating tools for exactly the wrong company, supplying exactly the wrong effort. 

It fills Johnny with white-hot rage.

"Thank you, hyungie," Donghyuck is simpering, blowing a kiss at Mark. 

"Please go away," Mark says, "We have an itinerary to follow, that does _not_ involve you." 

"Mark, that was almost a burn," Johnny says, incredulous. 

Mark blinks at him. "I do not-" 

"Don't worry about it," Johnny interrupts. 

"Alright kids, come on," Donghyuck says, with a touch of grandeur, nodding towards an open office. 

Taeil follows obediently, shoving the boys along ahead of him. The office door slams behind them, and Mark focuses his full attention on Jiyeon and Johnny again. 

"I do not know why they trust him with matters like this," Mark says, brutally honest. "New recruits are a serious matter, and Donghyuck is not serious." 

"He's kinda scary," Johnny says. 

Mark looks unimpressed. "We have more to see. Come." 

He sets off for another hallway, branching off the main entry, and Johnny and Jiyeon, ever docile, just follow. It feels a little less safe to talk openly, now that they've run into more androids roaming the compound. Mark might be a relatively safe person, but the others are anything but that. Unpredictable, dangerous...they need to be more careful. 

But Jiyeon evidently isn't done with their conversation.

"If I wanted to make some new friends," Jiyeon says, sending a meaningful look Johnny's way, "Where in the city should I go?" 

Johnny understands. It's not exactly subtle. 

"There's this great cafe. It's called The Mirror Room." 

_"Huh. The Mirror Room."_

The new voice makes Johnny nearly jump out of his skin. He turns around, not expecting anyone else to have joined them like this, and finds Jongin standing there in the hall, some feet behind them. Mark stops when he realizes nobody is following him, and there they all stand, rooted on the spot. 

Jongin has a phone in his hand, typing away with a mischievous smile on his face. He looks up after a moment, seeming very self-satisfied. 

"Look at that. First result on Naver Maps. The Mirror Room. Jongno-gu," he says.

_No._

Johnny looks at Jiyeon in despair, and she looks equally as petrified. 

"I wonder what fun surprises I would find there," Jongin simpers, "Maybe some old friends, hm?" 

Mark turns wide puzzled eyes on the other android. "Why did you come here? You are supposed to be conferring with-" 

"Oh, come on," Jongin says carelessly, "Johnny-boy's been keeping secrets. I bet I'll find our little lost sheep at this place, won't I? You keeping Wendy all penned up there?" 

Mark tries again, "Jongin-" 

" _SHUT UP,_ " Jongin spits at Mark. 

Mark shrinks back at the loud, echoing depth of his voice. 

"I bet Amber is there, huh? And your little cockwarmer, Jaehyun?" Jongin taunts, "Maybe even my old favorite hyung. Is Yixing there, too?" 

"You wouldn't do it," Johnny seethes. 

"Of course I would," says Jongin, "Pay a little visit. Remind all those stupid fuckers what they were made to do. Who they belong to." 

Johnny's temper flares, and his body moves before his mind can stop it. He flies at Jongin, throwing himself forward to push the android with a force that would have sent a normal person sprawling. Johnny is a not a small person. He tries to never use his full strength when he’s dealing with other people; he's tall and broad and there were more than a few drunk play-fights in high school and college that turned unintentionally nasty because of how goddamn big he is. 

But it's as if he isn't trying at all. Jongin catches him by the hand and drags him upward by the wrist, holding Johnny's hand up above both of their heads. 

"How 'bout I snap your goddamn neck, huh?" Jongin asks him, voice low and silky and dangerous. "I'll do it, _gladly._ I know Taemin thinks you're soooo useful and interesting. But I just think you're a pain in the ass." 

There's a flash of blonde, then, and a brush of cold against Johnny's side, and suddenly Jongin's crushing grip on his wrist is gone, Johnny's flat on his ass, and Mark is pressing Jongin up against the wall. 

"Don't," Mark says. "You cannot hurt him." 

Mark only has one hand spread across Jongin's chest, pinning him there, but it seems to be nearly enough to hold him back, because Jongin struggles against it. 

"Our orders are to watch him, and to keep him here. Not to hurt him," Mark instructs, tone never wavering.

"He needs to be taken down a peg," Jongin spits. "Him, versus us? No fucking contest. He's got it in his head that he can run his mouth and lay hands on us? There's consequences for that." 

“Calm down.” 

“I won’t fucking calm down! You all go too easy on him! If he’s not gonna make himself useful, we should just get rid of him!” says Jongin. 

"You won't harm him." 

" _Watch me,_ " Jongin hisses. 

Jongin breaks away from Mark, sending the smaller android stumbling, and Johnny trips over himself to turn and run, only making it a step before he loses balance. He's expecting to feel Jongin's cold, cold hands closing around him, on his leg or his arm or his throat...

That touch doesn't come. He hears a 'snik' of metal on metal, and when he turns back around, Jongin is straining forward against Mark, who is holding Jongin back by both of his hands. Mark is snapping the second loop of a pair of cuffs onto Jongin's wrists, binding his hands together behind his back. 

"Mark, _wait,_ " Johnny says, "Those-"

It's too late.

The cuffs are only magnets. Johnny saw them up close the other day, and they're just an incredibly powerful electromagnetic closure, too strong for a normal person to open on their own. That's it. 

But Johnny has had some time to think about that. One of the things that's a must-learn in bioengineering is what kinds of systems are okay for what kinds of bodies. Magnets, for example, shouldn't be used in patients with heart implants and pacemakers. They can fuck with the mechanics, cause arrhythmia, and in the worse cases, they can even stop a cardiac device completely and kill the user. Some devices are sensitive enough that nurses in cardiac wards can't use magnetic name tags, and doors can't have magnetic closures. It's a common enough problem, but a serious one.

Neo Cardiac Technology androids have artificial hearts. 

A long moment passes after the cuffs are snapped into place, a moment that must only be two or three seconds but feels more like half a day. Then, Jongin gasps, arms straining desperately in Mark's grasp, and collapses. 

He's having a heart attack. The android equivalent of a heart attack. 

They're watching what happened to Chenle all over again. Jongin starts screaming, curling into himself as he struggles to get out of the cuffs. 

"The cuffs!" Johnny yells, over the sound of Jongin's agony, "Mark, the cuffs, take them _off-_ " 

Mark reaches for him, reaches for the magnetic clasp to free Jongin's hands and turn off the current that's coursing through his body, but the metal sparks against his fingers, and Mark yelps in pain. Johnny's robotics training supplies an answer without any thought at all: Jongin's electromagnetic heart is malfunctioning, sending electricity through the cuffs. If any of them touch him long enough to get the cuffs off, they'll be electrocuted. 

Footsteps echo down the hall in their direction. They're attracting an audience. 

"What's wrong with him?" comes Joy's voice, a terrified shriek. 

"Systems meltdown," a second voice adds, a man's, quivering. 

Johnny looks around them wildly. Joy, Yeri, Taeil, Donghyuck, those two human boys. Jiyeon and Mark. Everyone's eyes are frozen on Jongin, curled on the ground, his body literally buzzing with electricity, his deep voice broken as he screams. 

And then there's a hand on Johnny's arm. 

" _Hyung._ " 

Johnny looks at Mark, looks at his hand on Johnny's skin and then up at his face, and he nearly starts crying, because Mark is staring him in the eyes. 

Those eyes...are Mark. 

It's him. He’s back.

"Hyung," Mark says again, and his voice is a rasp, a whisper.

It's as though Johnny can't even hear Jongin, see him writhing on the floor. The world falls away around them, and all he can see is Mark. Mark, glancing down at his own body. He moves his feet, flexes his free hand, watches the exoskin move over his polyplastic and metal frame. 

Mark looks up at Johnny with huge, wild doe eyes. 

"Hyung, _where are my legs?_ "

There’s nothing for Johnny to say.

Jongin has started to just gasp out short breaths of pain, and Taeil lets go of the two human boys to kneel by his side. Joy hovers beside them, near the floor. Neither android can touch him, and it’s obvious that nobody knows what to do. 

They all watched Chenle die. They all know what’s happening.

But while the fragile balance of the SM androids crumbles around them, Johnny is luckier than he can ever imagine that he has Jiyeon. While he’s busy having a breakdown at Mark’s scared eyes, so aware, trying to fathom how he’s suddenly _back,_ Jiyeon acts. 

She grabs Yeri by the forearm, and says, “Take me back to my father. Now.” 

“Oh my goodness,” Yeri says, her face going slack in horror as she realizes that their guest, a big part of their boss’s plan has just witnessed this, “Jiyeonnie, I didn’t – I don’t-”

“ _Now,_ ” Jiyeon demands. 

“We’ll take her back,” Mark says, surprising Johnny back into reality. 

His face has frozen back to its perfect blankness, and for a moment, Johnny worries that his lapse back into control is gone. As Jongin’s shouts dwindle down to a sickening silence, Mark takes Jiyeon by the arm and marches back toward the entrance. The two boys, standing stock-still in the place where Taeil left them, exchange a glance, and haul ass after them.

“ _Wait,_ ” Johnny sobs, “Wait, hold on-”

He leaves the four androids behind, and runs. 

The boys are already at the front door, yelling over each other for them all to hurry up. Jiyeon is all but dragging Mark, who seems to have completely lost himself. And Johnny brings up the rear. 

“I’m sorry,” she gasps, “That was all I could think of to say!”

They spill outside onto the sidewalk, five of them, looking amongst themselves as if to find answers. 

“We have to get out of here,” Johnny says. 

“What the fuck _was that?_ ” one of the boys, the taller of the two with delicate face, nearly shouts. 

“It won’t make sense even if I explain,” Johnny says, “Come on, come on, we have to go!” 

“I’m so fucking dead,” Jiyeon mutters. 

She sprints, heavy boots pounding on the sidewalk, over to a parked car at the side of the road, in front of the building. The front window rolls down, and a man peeks out. 

“Miss Lee?” he says, “Where’s your father?” 

Jiyeon looks back at Johnny. “A hand?” 

Johnny has no idea what she means, until Jiyeon wrenches the driver’s door open and takes hold of the man by his expensive-looking blazer. She starts hauling him out of the car, and before Johnny can move, it’s Mark who darts forward and pulls this man out of the seat and deposits him on the sidewalk. 

“What the _fuck_ ,” Mark whispers, looking at his own hands. “Why am I so fucking strong? Yo, hyung, what the-”

“Miss Lee!” the man barks, too shocked to stand. 

But Jiyeon is already in the driver’s seat of the car.

“Get in the fucking car!” she screams. 

The two boys don’t need to be told twice; they slide into the backseat of the luxury SUV. Mark scrambles in beside them, and Johnny sprints around to the passenger’s seat. The driver gets to his feet and dashes for the car, right as Johnny slams his door, and Jiyeon steps on the gas. 

They veer away, careening into the wrong lane for a moment, before Jiyeon rights them and sets course for Gyeongbu Expressway, heading north. 

"You just stole a Bentley," Johnny says, dumbstruck, as he runs his hands along the rich black interior of the SUV. 

"My dad had it coming," she grumbles, "Fucker didn't want me to get my license. So I snuck out and got it when he thought I was at the dermatologist." 

"Hey, uh," one of the boys pipes up, "Where are we going?" 

Johnny has to pause for a moment to realize that, yes, they just kidnapped these two guys. Again. They were kidnapped by SM and now they're kidnapped again. 

"Just away," Jiyeon replies. 

"Who...are you guys?" the other boy asks. 

"Great question," says Johnny, "I'm Johnny, this is Jiyeon, and he's Mark. And you?" 

"Sungchan," says the first boy, the taller one. 

"Shotaro," says the other, his deep dimples visible even as his face is screwed up in fear. 

"Nice to meet you," says Jiyeon, offering them a wave over her shoulder. 

"But seriously," says Johnny to Jiyeon, "Where are we going?" 

She shrugs, "Where would there be the most people at this time of day?" 

It's about four in the afternoon, which means that rush hour is about to start. And a terrible place for rush hour traffic, in Seoul, on a weekday, is the city center. 

"Head for Jung-gu," Johnny says.

"Jung-gu," Jiyeon repeats, "On it.” 

They sail up the highway, going much faster than the posted speed limit, desperate to make it across the river and into the city proper before the crazy thing that they've just done catches up to them. 

Hopefully no one is following.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've gotta say, I missed this universe terribly. Please scream at me in the comments, we're in the home stretch now~ 
> 
> Also...did any of y'all see Taemin at the end of the SuperM One (Monster & Infinity) MV and think...Lotus...bc I sure as fuck did.


End file.
